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Those bonus paychecks headed to workers on the frontlines during the early days of the pandemic are shrinking here in Minnesota. And here's why.

The Minnesota legislature passed and Governor Walz signed an order back in May authorizing the state to make extra payments to those Minnesotans who worked on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic. State lawmakers settled on an amount of $500 million dollars to be divided among all eligible frontline workers.

And that's why those paychecks individual bonus checks are already shrinking here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. In a post from early May, right after the bill passed, I explained just HOW much those bonus checks would be worth:

State officials said in May they expect around 667,000 people across the state will apply for the rewards. Those one-time payments are then likely to be around $750, though could be somewhat smaller or larger, depending on how many people apply.

That sounded good back in May. But now that the application website has been up and running for several weeks, way more Minnesotans have applied than state officials first estimated. In fact, Gov. Tim Walz announced earlier this week that over 900,000 Minnesotans have applied for those bonus payments. And with the deadline to apply still two weeks away (applications close at 5 pm on July 22nd), there could be over a million applicants.

And that means that instead of an individual check for $750, state officials now estimate those bonus checks might be closer to $500. The final amount will be determined by the total number of eligible frontline workers. According to this KSTP story, just because you've applied for that bonus payment doesn't mean you'll automatically get one.

After the application window closes, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry will then do verification checks to make sure each applicant is eligible for a bonus payment. The state will then notify you whether your application was accepted-- and whether a check will be coming your way or not.

You can get more information on just WHO is eligible and APPLY for those bonus checks HERE.

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