A summary from the official one-pager:
Despite risks to their own health, America’s frontline workers have provided health care, transportation, food, and more essential services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As unemployment lines grow longer, these patriots continue to return to work the next day, some even making less money than they could on unemployment insurance. Congress should allow critical employers to provide Patriot Pay bonuses to frontline workers who earn under $90,000 in essential jobs through a refundable payroll tax credit. This form of hazard pay would complement, not replace, an employer’s responsibility to pay their workers—it is designed to quadruple any bonuses an employer gives to essential workers.
For those making less than $50,000, the bonuses could be worth up to $12 an hour. Here’s a concrete example:
A grocery store in Provo, UT could opt into Patriot Pay to give their workers a $12/hour bonus. The employer would contribute $3, while the federal benefit would add $9, meaning a $10/hour worker would receive a $5,760 bonus from May 1 through the end of July. The grocery store worker’s weekly paycheck would include an extra $480.
This seeks to address a real problem with unemployment benefits and to show gratitude to people who deserve it. But even if we assume that something like this would be worth the cost — and note that the hourly pay of the worker in the example goes from $10 to $22! — it strikes me as a problem that the government money workers receive would depend on whether their employers chose to (and could afford to) raise their pay.