CVS Health is giving $250 pandemic bonuses to nearly 200,000 of its workers

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• CVS Health is planning to pay special $250 bonuses to almost 200,000 of its workers to reward them for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The bonuses are for part-time and full-time workers in a variety of roles, including retail, long-term care pharmacy, distribution, pharmacy benefit management, and other areas.
• This is the second time CVS has paid bonuses during the pandemic. CVS offered bonuses ranging from $100 to $500 in March.
• CVS played a big role in providing access to coronavirus testing, and will soon start giving COVID-19 shots to seniors in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities across the US.
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CVS Health is planning to give $250 special bonuses to nearly 200,000 of its workers to reward them for the work they've done to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company is also making adjustments to some employees' compensation to mitigate the disruption caused by the pandemic. The roughly $60 million in bonuses will go out beginning in January, a CVS spokesperson confirmed.

"The special bonus is really in recognition of the extraordinary efforts that our employees have put forward this year in the face of COVID-19, and with all of the work that has been done to address the pandemic," the spokesperson said.

The bonuses will go to full-time and part-time workers in a variety of roles, including retail, long-term care pharmacy, distribution, pharmacy benefit management, and other roles that support patients, customers and clients, the spokesperson said. Office workers will also be getting bonuses.

CVS has played a big role this year in providing access to coronavirus testing, and is now partnering with the federal government to give COVID-19 shots to seniors and staff in at least 30,000 nursing homes and other long-term care facilities nationwide. That effort is expected to start on Dec. 21.

Not all CVS workers are getting special bonuses, as some already participate in existing bonus programs and will receive a minimum of $250, the spokesperson said. At the end of 2019, CVS employed about 290,000 people, and it has announced plans to hire tens of thousands more since then. The company operates more than 9,900 pharmacies across the US.

This is the second time this year that the Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based pharmacy giant has given employees bonuses.

In March, the company said it was giving appreciation bonuses ranging from $100 to $500 to pharmacists, frontline health professionals, store associates, managers and other hourly workers to help them navigate the pandemic. It also began offering child- and elder-care benefits.

This article was updated with additional information on the bonuses provided by CVS.

• Read more:
• The biggest nursing-home chain in the US is sounding off about a potentially messy COVID-19 vaccine rollout as a patchwork of state vaccination plans emerges
• Pharmacies, doctor's offices and hospitals are gearing up to give coronavirus vaccines to millions of Americans. Here's how they're preparing and how much they stand to profit along the way.
• CVS Health just announced plans to pay some workers bonuses of up to $500 as it hires 50,000 more employees
• CVS is hiring 15,000 new staff to cope with an expected rise of COVID-19 cases and the potential rollout of a vaccine

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