The plan prioritizes healthcare workers and first responders who willingly entered COVID situations and kept people safe during the pandemic.  

Republican members of the Frontline Workers Bonus Pay Working Group have proposed their plan to provide meaningful bonuses to those who took the most risk to keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal includes $1200 in bonus pay for nurses, first responders, corrections officers, long-term care workers, and hospice providers. 

With only $250 million to work with, the Republican plan prioritizes the healthcare workers who donned PPE and cared for Covid-positive patients, first responders who doubled down on an already risky job when the work didn’t allow distancing or PPE, and hospice staff who were cared for Minnesotans when they were forced to be separated from their loved ones.

“There are workers in certain professions who took exceptional risks to keep us safe during the Covid pandemic, especially before we had a handle on the virus,” said Senate Finance Chairwoman Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont). “This bonus pay is just a small token of our deep gratitude. We could pass this bill tomorrow and get these folks this pay they have more than earned; we just need Gov. Walz and House Democrats to put partisanship aside and work with us. “

To be eligible, the workers couldn’t work from home, need to have received less than one month of unemployment, and worked a minimum of 1200 hours between March and December of 2020, about 30 hours a week. There is no income cap on the proposal and an application process will be used to provide bonus pay as soon as the application is approved.   

The working group met eight times and heard from dozens of testifiers across many professions affected by COVID. The working group discussed at length the merits of each profession and what amount of bonus pay would be impactful to the recipients.