State announces second round of $500 payments to low-income workers
“A second round of $500 payments will soon be going out to low-income workers in Massachusetts.
The state announced Thursday that the payments, which are part of the Massachusetts COVID-19 Essential Employee Premium Pay program, will go to individuals who did not receive payments in the first round, which took place in March 2022.
An estimated 330,000 eligible people will receive the payments in June.
Eligibility for the second round of payments will be based on filed 2021 Massachusetts tax returns and will be similar to that used for the first payments, but the criteria was updated for annual changes in the mininimum wage and federal poverty level calculations. Individuals will be eligible for payments if their 2021 income was at least $13,500 and their total income put them at or below 300% of the federal poverty level.”