Pizza X hourly employees will receive a 75% pay raise as of April 8 until the end of June, Jeff Mease, the co-owner of the restaurant, said in a Facebook post. This also includes staff that does prep work for Pizza X, such as making the dough, in the restaurant’s commissary kitchen.
The pay raise is possible because of the Federal Paycheck Protection Program, a loan program that stems from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, that’s geared toward providing small businesses financial relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This loan will cover Pizza X’s payroll for 10 weeks if the restaurant maintains the same number of employees and total payroll, according to Mease’s post.
Another reason the employees will receive a pay raise is because they are at greater risk to contract the coronavirus while working despite being provided with bandanas and hand sanitizer about a month ago, according to the post.
“The decision is not without risk to us, but we felt it was the right thing to do for our staff and our customers,” Mease said in the post.
