COVID-19 Essential Employee Premium Pay Program

This program distributed $500 million to lower-wage frontline workers who put themselves at risk with admirable commitment to their communities.

This program distributed $500 million to lower-wage frontline workers who put themselves at risk with admirable commitment to their communities.

On December 13, 2021, Governor Baker signed into law the COVID-19 Essential Employee Premium Pay program. The Legislature allocated $460 million for premium payments to Massachusetts workers.

The law provided for the Administration to design the program and develop eligibility parameters that will ensure this critical support is provided quickly to deserving workers across the Commonwealth.

$500 payments were delivered to nearly 240,000 people in March 2022 in the first round of the program. A second round distributed approximately 300,000 additional checks in June 2022. A third and final round distributed $250 payments to approximately 229,000 people in early January 2023.