By: HUB's Absence Management Team
Effective January 1, 2024, Minnesota will expand its current sick and safe time law to mandate paid sick leave for employees.
Minnesota’s Current Earned Sick and Safe Time Law
Under Minnesota’s current law, employees are allowed to use personal sick time for a variety of reasons other than their own medical condition. The law does not require employers to provide sick and safe time but rather requires them to expand the uses if it is offered.
What’s Changing:
Effective January 1, 2024, employers will be required to provide Earned Sick and Safe time to employees who meet certain requirements. The benefits can be used for the same reasons under the current law, their own medical condition, care for a sick family member, seeking assistance if the employee or a family member have experienced a domestic abuse issue.
Employee Eligibility:
Starting January 1, 2024, employees who work at least 80 hours in a year for an employer in Minnesota and are not an independent contractor are eligible for benefits. This includes temporary and part-time employees. Building and Construction industry employees who are represented by a union are exempt provide they receive similar benefits under their collective bargaining agreement.
Employee Entitlement:
Employees can earn one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked up to a maximum of 48 each year. Employers are allowed to increase this limit.
Qualified Family Members:
Under the law, these are considered qualified family members.
- Child: This includes a foster child, adult child, legal ward, a child for whom the employee is a legal guardian, or a child to whom the employee stands or stood in loco parentis (in place of a parent).
- Spouse or Registered Domestic Partner.
- Sibling: This includes a stepsibling, foster sibling, or biological sibling.
- Parent: This includes a biological, adoptive, or foster parent, stepparent, or a person who stood in loco parentis (in place of a parent) when the employee was a minor child.
- Grandchild: This includes a foster grandchild or step-grandchild.
- Grandparent or Step-Grandparent.
- Niece/Nephew: This refers to a child of a sibling of the employee.
- Aunt/Uncle: This refers to a sibling of the parents of the employee.
- Son/Daughter-in-law or Brother/Sister-in-law.
- Any of the family members listed in 1 through 9 above of an employee's spouse or registered domestic partner.
- Any other individual related by blood or whose close association with the employee is equivalent to a family relationship.
- Additionally, the employee can annually designate up to one individual as a qualified family member.
Employer Obligations:
- Employers are required to list the number of hours earned and used on the employees’ earning statements.
- Notices must be provided to employees starting January 1, 2024, both in English and the employee’s primary language, advising them about Earned Safe and Sick Time.
- Employers must provide the better of the new state benefit or existing municipal paid sick time ordinances current in effect.
NEXT STEPS
Employers should start to communicate with their payroll providers to ensure that they are prepared to have pay slips provide the required information starting January 1, 2024. Employers should also start to review handbooks and policies to ensure that they are following the new legislation. The state has noted that they will be providing FAQ’s and model employee notices in the upcoming months.
HUB’s Workforce Absence Management (WAM) team will continue to monitor as Minnesota’s Department of Labor and Industry continue to provide more information.
NOTICE OF DISCLAIMER
Neither Hub International Limited nor any of its affiliated companies is a law or accounting firm, and therefore they cannot provide legal or tax advice. The information herein is provided for general information only and is not intended to constitute legal or tax advice as to an organization’s specific circumstances. You should consult an attorney, accountant, or other legal or tax professional regarding the application of the general information provided here to your organization’s specific situation in light of your organization’s particular needs.