Subject:
Extension of COVID Death Benefit
Message:
Dear Legislator,
As a union member and a constituent, I urge you to support the extension of the COVID death benefit that was granted to public employees at the beginning of the global pandemic in 2020.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, public sector essential workers have been on the front lines to ensure that our state could continue to provide a range of critical services and operations.
Despite the risks to their own health and wellbeing, these employees reported to work — day in and day out — to ensure that the greatest number of New Yorkers would be able to survive the pandemic. Services like providing health care, policing our streets, providing childcare and school staff delivering food to families in need have been crucial in helping our state get through the pandemic. These brave individuals are vital to the continued operation of our state, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for the sacrifices they have made — and continue to make — on our behalf.
To protect the families of public employees who have died as a result of COVID, New York State enacted Chapter 89 of the Laws of 2020, which provides a special pension death benefit to alleviate the financial uncertainty that often follows these tragedies. In 2021, as COVID continued to impact our state and our public employees, the law was extended through 2022.
As we enter the third and hopefully final year of this global pandemic, we urge the Legislature to again extend this benefit through 2023 and provide some relief to the families of those public employees who sacrificed their lives for their state and its citizens.
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter. I respectfully ask that you bring up this issue with your conference. I look forward to a reply to my email.
Sincerely,
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