Houston Republic

The city of Houston is taking an unorthodox approach to avoid furloughing over 3,000 employees.

The city will take $404 million in federal COVID-19 money and use it to make workers “essential” to deal with the pandemic, allowing them to continue in their jobs.

Houston Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin announced the idea at a budget and fiscal affairs committee meeting June 2. The CARES Act funding will save the jobs of city workers who would otherwise be furloughed, a report in Community Impact Newspaper said. Under the plan, employees who would have otherwise been furloughed will take on temporary temperature-checking roles, giving them “essential” status in combating the coronavirus.

There are currently temporary workers at Houston city offices who take the temperatures of arriving employees. The employees are given a colored wristband that shows their temperature was under 100.4 and they are free of symptoms of the virus and have not had contact with anyone who is infected.

Martin's chief of staff, Jessica Beemer, said the coronavirus relief bill funds COVID-19-essential services, including the taking of temperature checks, so the money can be used to pay city employees so long as they are performing such services.

"Instead of a furlough day, we're all being deployed in a different use," Beemer said. "I appreciate [that] as a city employee."

Beemer said it is unclear if each employee will be doing temperature checks for 10 full days, the amount of time they were supposed to be furloughed.