Would you consider yourself a front-line worker during the pandemic?  A group of Minnesota lawmakers is taking on the huge and difficult task of figuring out just who should get a piece of the $250 million budgeted for essential front-line workers.

This is going to be a tough decision to make for these lawmakers. Recently, according to WCCO/CBS Minnesota the Front-Line Worker Pay Working Group had a hybrid hearing to hear from essential workers and what kind of hardships they experienced being a front line worker.

There are so many that I think are deserving of a bump financially for their sacrifices and risk they took doing what was essential to keep things moving as well as possible during the pandemic.

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So, where do you start when figuring who deserves to be compensated for going above and beyond?  First workers that come to my mind are the healthcare workers. Mary Turner is an ICU nurse and heads up the Minnesota Nurses Association and she said “We are here to make sure workers are heard when we say it’s time to make it right,”

Grocery store workers, food service workers, bus drivers and the list goes on. Many of these workers when exposed at work would have to quarantine at home without pay or any aid.

Front-Line Worker Pay Working Group has a deadline of September 6th to decide who and how many Minnesotan will be considered essential workers and how they will be able to go about getting funds.

“It’s critical that the working group responsible for distributing the funds ensure that they are distributed in a timely fashion and are easy for the workers to access,”  Turner said.

It's going to be a tough go for the Front-Line Worker Pay Working Group.  They must consider increased burdens financially and what risk or exposure, if any they, to the virus they experienced on the job.

There are 9 members of the Front-Line Worker Pay Working Group and workers must get approved by 7 of the nine to be recommended.

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