House passes bill providing bonus checks to frontline workers

Members of the Minnesota House have passed legislation to help more than 660,000 workers hard-hit by the pandemic.  

The $1,500 payments are for frontline workers who risked their own health and safety to keep Minnesota running through the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontline workers must meet certain income and other requirements to be eligible for the payments.   

“This bill has been two hard years in the making,” said Rep. Cedrick Frazier, author of the bill. “It has passed through six committees in less than a month, had many dedicated frontline workers drop everything to testify in support, and we’ve answered hundreds of questions from our colleagues. Now it’s passed off of the House floor. Our workers in Minnesota need to see action from Senate leaders on this bill now. We need to show that our Minnesota legislature puts people over profits.”

Frontline workers joined Rep. Cedrick Frazier, Senate DFL Leader Melisa López Franzen and Sen. Erin Murphy in a  press conference Thursday morning. 

MAPE member Brian MacNeill, a behavior analyst at the Minnesota Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ veterans home in Minneapolis participated in the press conference. Resident veterans served during World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War and Gulf War.

Despite dozens of COVID-19 outbreaks at the facility, “Employees at the state veterans homes stepped up and continue to come in. Our Minnesota veterans deserve the best care. They deserve a place where they can live the final chapters of their lives in peace and comfort,” MacNeill said.

“When our facility was in quarantine, when family and friends could not visit the veterans, we were there to hold their hands, to reassure them that we will get through this pandemic, that they are not alone. We continue to put our lives on the line and risk the health of our families day after day because it’s our turn to keep our veterans safe – the same men and women who risked their lives so many years ago to make the world safer for all of us,” he added.  

The DFL proposal includes the following occupations in the definition of a frontline worker: 1) long-term care and home care; 2) health care; 3) emergency responders; 4) public health, social service, and regulatory service; 5) courts and corrections; 6) child care; 7) public schools, including charter schools, state schools, and higher education; 8) food service, including production, processing, preparation, sale, and delivery; 9) retail, including sales, fulfillment, distribution, and delivery; 10) temporary shelters and hotels; 11) building services, including maintenance, janitorial, and security; 12) public transit; 13) ground and air transportation services; 14) manufacturing; and 15) vocational rehabilitation.

In order to receive a bonus check, workers must meet the following individual eligibility requirements:

• were employed in one of the frontline sectors in MN for at least 120 hours from Mar. 15, 2020 to June 30, 2021;
• were not able to work remotely due to the nature of their work, and worked in close proximity to other individuals (not in the same household);
• meet income restrictions: workers providing direct care to COVID patients, maximum income is $350,000 (joint filers) and $175,000 (single), For other workers, the limits are $185,000 (joint) and $85,000 (single); and
• did not collect more than 20 weeks of unemployment benefits from Mar. 15, .2020 to June 30, 2021.

Senate Republicans have not introduced legislation that provides frontline workers with bonus checks despite the Legislature promising to do so as part of budget negotiations during the June 2021 special session.