Deadline passes to apply for Minnesota’s Hero Pay

Friday marks the final day for Minnesotans to submit applications for frontline worker bonus pay. The application portal will close at 5:00pm.

The Minnesota Legislature approved $500 million to send individual checks to those who worked on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, lawmakers anticipated around 667,000 workers would be eligible for the payments.

However, as of July 6, the state said more than 901,000 Minnesotans had already applied for the payments and, as of Friday, more than 1.18 million applications had been received by the state. With the money set to be split evenly among those who are approved, the size of the payments could drop from the initial estimate of $750 to $500 or less, depending on how many people are approved.

The state says there will be an appeals process for those who are denied by the program. After appeals are settled, the state expects to send out payments at some point in September.

Click here to submit an application. Those who need help, have questions or aren’t able to access the webpage can call the Minnesota Frontline Worker Pay Program hotline at 866-333-7633. Emailing mnfrontlinepay@submittable.com for support is also an option.