Published On March 22, 2022 05:09 AM Ernice Gilbert | March 22, 2022
By GETTY IMAGES
The Bryan administration made known Monday that the deadline for private businesses to apply for Premium Pay stimulus for their eligible employees has been extended to March 31.
The move follows backlash the administration fielded following a Consortium story which highlighted the previous March 9 deadline that many businesses were not aware of. This led to criticism that the program was being poorly executed.
Each U.S. state, territory, and tribal government will receive their portion of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which includes an amount for Premium Pay stimulus checks. The U.S. Virgin Islands was allocated $547.1 million from ARPA, and as of January, the territory was in receipt of $531 million. For the Premium Pay program, $40 million was set aside by Governor Albert Bryan.
Premium Pay is a one-time payment that is based on guidelines established by the U.S. Treasury. It is for employees both public and private who worked throughout the pandemic in approved sectors during the period of March 2020 to March 2021. The payments, originally set to go out in February and March, have been pushed to the summer.
Office of Management and Budget Director, Jenifer O’Neal, said on March 9 that approved sectors were posted on the OMB website, and they include healthcare, emergency response, sanitation, disinfection cleaning, grocery stores and restaurants, among others. “Those people whose work required them to show up to their jobs; they could not do it from home, those are the individuals who are eligible for Premium Pay,” she said.
Relative to the time period that secures qualification, Ms. O’Neal said, “In particular, if you worked through March 05 to April 05th, 2020 and from August 13th to September 08th, 2020 you are eligible for Premium Payments if you meet all of the other criteria,” she said while explaining that that period was the time when Governor Bryan declared a territory-wide lockdown.
“We had to remain at home, we were in that stay-at-home phase but there were some people who had to go to work like grocery stores workers who ensured that we all got food,” she explained.
Workers whose salaries fall above $50,000 but no more than $70,000 will receive $1250; salaries less than $50,000 will receive $2,000 while those who worked for a minimum of two weeks or less than three months will receive a payment of $500, said the OMB director.
Businesses can apply here.
