The COVID-19 pandemic was declared as an emergency on March 13, 2020 under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act). The Company recognizes that during this time, some employees who are required to work outside the home for National Grid are incurring a new or additional caregiving expense for services that were not in place prior to the pandemic which may be placing a financial hardship on the employee. The Emergency Hardship Caregiver Subsidy is a temporary program that National Grid has developed to provide financial support to these employees.
In brief, the program provides a subsidy payment for those who are working in the field or National Grid locations, that have experienced a financial hardship since the date the emergency pandemic was announced, for obtaining new or increased center-based or in-home care for their children up to the age of 13 or disabled dependent children over 13. Employees who are eligible will be required to attest to their eligibility by completing an affidavit and sending it to Employee Services for processing. To obtain the affidavit, employees should contact Employee Services directly either by phone or email
(888-483-2123/ employee.services@nationalgrid.com). Additional details will be available to employees in a forthcoming Program Guide.
National Grid is offering the Emergency Hardship Caregiver Subsidy described above to eligible employees on a temporary, non-precedent setting basis. Also, National Grid reserves the right to: supplement, reduce, modify, and/or eliminate the subsidy in the future. Additionally, the Company, in its sole discretion, will determine which employees are and are not eligible for this subsidy.
Theodore Skerpon - BM IBEW Local 97