A New Stimulus Plan Is Out (For Essential Workers Only?) The Treasury Department recently released its guidance into what cities and other local governments can do with the money allocated to them by the American Rescue Plan. Could cash go to hazard pay for essential workers? The Treasury Department recently released its guidance into what cities and other local governments can do with the money allocated to them by the American Rescue Plan. Per Forbes, one of the lesser-known provisions in that guidance is that it allows cities to use the funds on hazard pay for essential workers. “Employers’ policies on COVID-19-related hazard pay have varied widely, with many essential workers not yet compensated for the heightened risks they have faced and continue to face,” the rule says. “The added health risk to essential workers is one prominent way in which the pandemic has amplified pre-existing socioeconomic inequities.”