Minnesota essential workers could receive paychecks they missed during the COVID-19 pandemic

ROCHESTER, Minn. - The Essential Worker Emergency Leave Act just recently passed in the Minnesota House, allocating $250 million for essential workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The money will help frontline workers all across the state get some of the paychecks they missed because of COVID-19. The President of the Minnesota Nurses Association, Mary Turner, said this is the first step in supporting essential workers.

The $250 million will go back to employees who lost benefits and pay while sitting in quarantine or waiting for tests. Turner said this is not bonus money for them, it's just giving them back what they lost because of something out of their control. "While we appreciate being called heroes etc., you need to know just exactly what the heroes were doing and the risks that we were taking and the sacrificing we were making, gladly, and would do again for the people of Minnesota," she explained.

The Essential Worker Emergency Leave Act has yet to be signed by the Governor.