Governor: $1K bonus for public corporation employees to be paid with ARPA funds
By The Star Staff
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia announced Tuesday that he will use federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to pay a special bonus of $1,000 to just over 16,000 public employees who work in public corporations and who were not covered by the island government’s debt adjustment plan.
“All these employees were also affected by the economic situation that the government went through in recent years, and have gone the extra mile to, in times of adversity, such as the passage of hurricanes and a pandemic, work for Puerto Rico,” the governor said in a written statement. “We insisted before the Oversight Board that they be included, but in the face of its rejection, once again, I am taking action on behalf of these public servants and using available federal funds to do them justice.”
Pierluisi noted that employees of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA), Highways and Transportation Authority, University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and Industrial Development Co. (PRIDCO) will benefit from the special payment. In the case of the Public Corporation for the Supervision and Insurance of Cooperatives of Puerto Rico (COSSEC by its Spanish acronym), a bond will be paid with its own funds already identified by the agency.
Employees will be paid on or before Christmas Day by way of a special payroll that will be processed next week. As with the Christmas bonus, the payment will be subject to the corresponding federal and state withholdings.