Global Compliance Desk – Minnesota, United States

Bills Introduced: Paid Sick Leave and Paid Family Leave

The Minnesota Legislature is in session through May 20, 2019. This session has been in discussion about numerous bills affecting employers and the workplace which would include paid leaves of absence (including family and sick leave). Highlights for these are given below:

Statewide Paid Sick Leave: H.F. No. 11, H.F. No. 29, S.F. No. 528, and S.F. No. 1597
There are a number of bills currently in the legislature that, if passed, would add Minnesota to the list of states and cities which are rapidly growing. This would require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. Specifically, these bills would require that employees accrue a minimum of 1 hour of paid sick and safe leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 48 hours per year. Employees could then use the accrued sick and safe time for various reasons, including to deal with their own illness or injury, to care for a family member, and/or to address domestic abuse related issues.

Paid Family Leave: H.F. No. 5 and S.F. No. 1060
Bills have been brought forth in the Minnesota House of Representatives (H.F. No. 5) and Senate (S.F. No. 1060) looking to create a state-administered paid family and medical leave insurance program, which would require Minnesota employers to provide employees with up to 12 weeks of paid leave benefits for qualifying family care and up to 12 more weeks for qualifying medical reasons in a year.