Frontline Worker Pay Bonuses Administered Starting Wednesday

(KNSI) — Just over a million frontline workers will get their hero pay checks starting this week.

During the last session, it was announced that an estimated 667,000 workers in 15 sectors who came into work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic would share in $500 million due to the Frontline Worker Pay bill, which was signed in May. The money will come from the state’s projected $9 billion budget surplus. Those checks’ initial amounts ranged from $750 to $1,500. After the application window closed, the state said 1.1 million applications came in. More than 200,000 of those were denied for various reasons.

The final tally for who would get a hero paycheck was 1,025,655 workers. They will each receive $487.45.

Payments will start going out on October 5th.

“It’s been an honor to administer the Frontline Worker Pay Program and provide the well-deserved and long-awaited recognition to so many of Minnesota’s frontline workers for the extraordinary sacrifices they made during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Nicole Blissenbach, temporary commissioner, Department of Labor and Industry. “These workers deserve our thanks and I’m grateful to be part of the program that gives them a token of our appreciation.”

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