On Monday, the Cabinet approved a proposal by Interior Minister Jan Hamáček and Defence Minister Lubomír Metnar to reward police officers, firefighters, soldiers, and members of the prison service who helped the nation in the efforts against the Covid-19 pandemic. These frontline workers will receive a one-off reward of CZK 20,000. Photo Credit: Vlada.cz.
Czech Rep., Jul 22 (BD) – On Monday, the Cabinet approved a proposal by Interior Minister Jan Hamáček (CSSD) and Minister of Defense Lubomír Metnar (ANO) to reward certain frontline workers, including police officers, firefighters, soldiers, and members of the prison service, who served the nation in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Ministry of Interior, 26,761 police officers and 7,100 firefighters in the eighth and lowest pay grade will receive a one-time award of CZK 20,000 for their courageous service.
“The reward is a fair thank you for the work of police and firefighters during the pandemic. It is great that I managed to convince my colleagues in the government of the need to appreciate the dedicated work of ordinary members of the security forces,” said Hamáček, adding on Twitter that members of the Czech prison service will also receive the reward.
In addition, according to the Ministry of Defense, CZK 237 million from the reserve budget will be added to the salaries of soldiers who were working on the front-line during the pandemic.
“Without the hard work that soldiers did in hospitals, nursing homes, or call centers in sanitation stations, it would certainly have been much more difficult to overcome the consequences of the pandemic. The reward of CZK 20,000 for each of them is absolutely deserved,” said Metnar.
According to the Ministry of Interior, these frontline workers had to work for 150 hours as paid overtime. “It is not enough to just thank them, but together with the reward I want to say once again to all police and firefighters: Thank you, we would not be able to do this without you,” added Hamáček.
