Minnesota will pay $487 bonuses to 1M frontline workers

Democratic State Rep. Cedrick Frazier, of New Hope, speaks at a news conference at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. The governor’s office on Monday announced that more than 1 million frontline workers have qualified for bonus checks to recognize their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The payments will be $487.45 apiece. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — More than 1 million Minnesotans have qualified for bonus checks to frontline workers to recognize their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the payments will be for less than $500. The state will start sending out the payments Wednesday. The Legislature approved $500 million for eligible applicants, and Gov. Tim Walz signed it into law in April. Nearly 1.2 million applications were submitted this summer. The state approved 1,025,655 of them, which means the individual payments will be $487.45 apiece. Officials originally estimated a final pool of 667,000 frontline workers with payments of about $750 apiece, but applications exceeded expectations.