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Reward‐related stimuli capture attention, even when they are task irrelevant. A consequence of attentional prioritization of reward‐related stimuli is that they may also have preferential access to working memory like other forms of emotional information. However, whether reward‐related distracters leak into working memory remains unknown. Here, using a well‐validated change detection task of visual working memory capacity and filtering, we conducted two studies to directly assess the impact of reward‐related distracters on working memory. In both studies, the distracters consisted of colored bars or circles that were previously associated with monetary reward. In Experiment 1, results indicated that previously rewarded distracters did not impact behavioral measures of working memory filtering efficiency compared to neutral distracters. In Experiment 2, using ERPs, we measured the contralateral delay activity …