© 2023 American Payroll Institute, Inc. Minnesota Paid Sick Leave Law Will Take Effect January 1 Effective January 1, 2024, Minnesota employers will be required to provide employees with one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours earned in a year. The law refers to paid sick leave as earned sick and safe time leave (ESSL) [S.B. 3035, L. 2023]. Earned sick and safe time local ordinances already exist in the cities of Bloomington, Duluth, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, Minnesota. When Minnesota’s statewide earned sick and safe time law goes into effect January 1, 2024, employers must follow the most protective law that applies to their employees. Sick and safe leave coverage Sick time. ESSL covers sick and safe time for both the employee’s own needs as well as the employee’s family members. Sick time leave includes leave to seek care, treatment, preventative care, or medical health care for a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition. Safe time. Safe time leave covers absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking, either for an employee or a family member. Sick leave can be used to seek: services from a victim services organization, counseling, relocation, or to secure an existing home, legal advice, or to participate in criminal or civil legal proceedings. Safe time also covers closure due to weather or a public emergency of the employee’s place of business, or of a family member’s school or place of care. Covered employees, family members. Employees who work at least 80 hours yearly for an employer in Minnesota are covered, including temporary and part-time employees. ESSL can be used for an employee or a family member, which includes someone with the equivalence of a family relationship. Employees may also designate one individual annually as a covered family member. Employee exclusions. Federal employees and independent contractors are not covered. Employees of air carriers working on the flight deck or as cabin crew members may also be excluded. For the air carrier employee exclusion, employees must be subject to the federal Railway Labor Act, work a minority of the time in a calendar year in Minnesota, and have other paid leave time at least equal to ESSL. Accrual Employees begin to accrue ESSL time on their first day of employment and may use time as it accrues without an initial waiting period. Leave accrues at a rate of one hour per 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 48 hours yearly. For exempt employees, a normal workweek is deemed to be 40 hours unless the normal workweek is shorter. The smallest increment of leave an employee may take is the lesser of: the smallest tracked increment in the employer’s payroll system, or four hours. Carryover, frontloading. Any accrued but unused time up to 80 hours must be carried over to the next year unless the employer frontloads time. Employers may frontload time, making it available immediately at the beginning of the year. Employers who choose to pay out accrued but unused time at the end of the year must frontload 48 hours, or 80 hours if they do not pay out. Employers do not have to pay for accrued, unused leave it is an option in lieu of permitting carryover of the leave. Pay rate. ESSL must be paid at the same hourly rate as an employee earns from working and not less than the applicable minimum wage. Notice, records, documentation Employee notice. Employees must provide up to seven days’ notice if leave is foreseeable. For unforeseeable leave, notice must be given as soon as possible. Employers must provide a written policy with requirements to give leave notice. Employer notice. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) will prepare employee notices in the five most common languages spoken in Minnesota. Notices must be posted where they can be readily observed, or employers may provide paper or electronic copies. If the employer provides a handbook, it must include the employee’s rights and remedies in the handbook. Pay statements, recordkeeping. Employers must include on pay statements the total number of ESSL hours accrued, and the number of hours used during the pay period. Employers are required to retain leave records for three years. Reinstatement requirements. Employees cannot be required to find a replacement as a condition for leave, and employees are entitled to reinstatement on return. Employers must maintain group insurance or health policies during leave time, but employees must continue to pay their share of premiums. On termination, employers are not required to pay unused leave however, if an employee transfers within the company or terminates and is rehired within 180 days, the employer must reinstate previous balances. Enforcement The DLI will enforce the new law. Up to $10,000 per employee per violation can be assessed in civil penalties. Employees may also bring a civil lawsuit within three years for violations. The DLI has released guidance on the new program. June 12, 2023 Volume 25 Issue 12
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