COVID-19

Time running out to apply for 'hero pay'

A woman wears PPE while cleaning a hospital room.
Wearing full PPE, environmental services worker Elissa Marty cleans the room of a COVID-19 positive patient while the patient is out of the room for treatment inside of a Mayo Clinic medical ICU at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minn.
Evan Frost | MPR News 2020

This is the final week to apply for bonuses for people deemed frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $500 million reward pool will be split evenly among all those who qualify. So far, more than 1 million applications have come in, but not all of those people will prove eligible.

The deadline is Friday to submit application materials through frontlinepay.mn.gov.

Workers in health fields, public safety, child care, food preparation and retail are just some who could be in line for the bonuses.

To qualify, people must have worked a certain number of hours away from home, couldn’t have spent considerable time on unemployment and have to be within income thresholds.

For applicants who are denied, there is a 15-day appeal period.

The check amount will be determined next month and payments are due to go out in September.