Working Group Begins Pandemic Bonus Criteria Review

The panel charged with creating a plan to distribute $250 million in bonus pay to frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic offered their thoughts on the allocation of funds at the Thursday, August 19, meeting of the Frontline Worker Pay Working Group. Overall, a consensus emerged that workers who worked remotely should not qualify, while further debate remains over the level of risk faced and the industries to be included.

Republican members expressed a desire to focus the hero pay to individuals in health care. Senator Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, said “That group of first responders, the hospital nurse group and the long-term care nursing homes, that sort of area, I think that stands out to me in a pretty big way.”

Senator Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, favors an approach that would include all individuals who faced risk. “When I think about the risk, especially in the early days, there are many on the front lines who experienced different degrees, but real risk. It’s hard for me, at this point, to draw a circle around those who are in and those who are not,” she said.

House DFL members and members of the Walz administration recommended following the criteria laid out in H.F. 41, which outlines workers by industry, COVID-19 risk and hours worked or salary.

The working group also heard from the Department of Labor and Industry about the number of workers' compensation claims resulting from the pandemic and heard testimony from workers in the meatpacking and grocery industries.