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Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker's administration will begin rolling out $500 payments to hundreds of thousands of low-income residents in the first premium pay program of its kind in the U.S.
The state's Executive Office of Administration and Finance announced Tuesday that it will begin sending the payments as part of a $4 billion COVID-19 relief plan signed by the governor in December. The effort is meant to help some 500,000 workers who fell below the state's poverty line in 2020.
"I was pleased to sign the COVID-19 Essential Employee Premium Pay program into law in December, and our Administration has worked quickly to design the parameters for the program with plans to efficiently begin distribution of these payments by the end of March," Baker said in a statement."This program will support those workers who served our communities, especially early in the pandemic."
Residents will be eligible for the payments if their income in 2020 was at least $12,750 and if their total income put them 300 percent below the poverty line, according to the administration.
The lower end of that rate would equate to working 20 hours a week for 50 weeks at a minimum wage rate of $12.75 an hour. For a single filer with no dependents, the maximum total income to be eligible for the payments would be $38,280.
Additionally, a resident who files with a spouse and two dependents, or with no spouse and three dependents, could be eligible with a household income of up to $78,600, the administration noted. However, those who received unemployment benefits in 2020 will not qualify for the extra money.
An administration official told NBC Boston on Tuesday that the eligibility requirements were limited to income thresholds "because it was a faster, simpler and more inclusive way of getting the payments out the door."
"This first round of payments to low-income workers will provide meaningful support for individuals who continued to work despite the global pandemic," Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito added on Tuesday. "We are pleased that our Administration has been able to quickly design this program to get funds out the door to those workers who the program is intended to support."
Baker's administration said the payments, worth a total of $250 million, will be mailed to qualifying individuals by the end of March. The $500 payments mark the first round of cash sent out to individuals as part of the total $460 million program.
The administration has not yet announced how the rest of the money will be disbursed after March.
On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Office of Administration and Finance also noted there will be a state website set up to help people determine whether they're eligible for the payments.
