AT&T Boosting Pay of Front Line Employees

AT&T said late Tuesday (March 24) that it was going to give its employees on the "front line," including call center workers, a temporary pay boost to help them through the pandemic crisis and recognize their efforts.

Saying it had a responsibility "like few other companies," AT&T pointed to the doctors, healthcare providers and FirstNet first responders all depending on its employees to stay connected.

"Thank you to all our employees, but particularly our front-line employees who are working hard serving customers during this challenging time," it said.

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That particular thanks will come in the form of a hefty raise effective March 25.

"We’ll pay a 20% bonus above the regular hourly base rate of pay to bargained-for employees for all time worked in the office or at home," the company said. "That bonus will be included in their regular rate of pay for purposes of calculating overtime rates."

Those "bargained-for" staffers are union employees that work in call centers and retail stores.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.