With the signature of Governor Tim Walz making it official, Minnesota has become the latest state to join the state paid leave trend that has been spreading across the nation in recent years. Employees in Minnesota will soon be entitled to both paid family and medical leave as well as earned sick and safe leave.

Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML)

PFML is scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2026. Eligible employees will be entitled to up to 12 weeks of medical leave or family leave for a single qualifying event. If an employee has more than one qualifying event, they may take up to 20 weeks of combined medical and family leave annually. Qualifying events include:

• Bonding leave for a new child;
• Leave for addressing serious health conditions or pregnancies;
• Safety leave; and
• Leave for a family member’s military deployment.

Also, beginning January 1, 2026, nearly all Minnesota employers must begin withholding employee contributions and making employer contributions. Effective for 2026, the total premium rate will be 0.7% of taxable wages, consisting of 0.4% for the medical leave portion and 0.3% for the family leave portion. Employers will be required to pay at least 50% of the premium, and they can withhold the remaining 50% from their employees.

For more information on Minnesota’s new PFML program, click here.

Earned Sick and Safe Leave (ESSL)

Effective January 1, 2024, Minnesota employees will begin earning and using paid sick and safe leave for qualifying reasons, including:

• To care for their own mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition;
• To care for a family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition;
• For absence due to domestic abuse, sexual abuse, or stalking; and
• Due to closure of their employer’s business due to weather or public emergency or closure of a family member’s school or place of care due to weather or public emergency.

All employers with one or more employees must accrue up to 48 hours of ESSL annually for their employees at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Unused hours may be carried over by employees to the following year, however, employers can cap accruals at 80 hours.

Employees must be given notice of their rights regarding ESSL by January 1, 2024, or when employment commences, whichever is later. If an employer has an employee handbook, an ESSL notice must be included.

In addition, employee wage statements must include the total number of earned sick and safe time hours accrued and available for use as well as the total number of earned sick and safe time hours used.

Several cities in Minnesota already have local earned sick and safe leave ordinances. Employers must follow whichever law provides their employees with more benefits and protections.

For more information on Minnesota ESSL, click here.

Minnesota employers should take the time to review existing paid leave or PTO policies to ensure compliance with these new requirements.