Effective Jan. 1, 2024, Minnesota’s earned sick and safe time (ESST) law, requires employers to provide earned sick and safe paid leave to employees who work in Minnesota. An employee is anyone who works at least 80 hours in a year for an employer in Minnesota but does not include independent contractors.
A notice informing employees of their rights under the new Minnesota Sick and Safe Time Act must be provided to each employee by January 1, 2024 and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry has released a sample notice. Your C2 HR team will post the necessary notice to C2 Connection and update your company handbook as needed.
Per the ESST law:
- An employee earns one hour of sick and safe time for every 30 hours worked
- An employee earns a maximum of 48 hours each calendar year
- Employers must include the total number of earned sick and safe time hours available for use, as well as the total number of earned sick and safe time hours used, on earnings statements provided to employees at the end of each pay period
Employees can use their earned sick and safe time for reasons such as:
- the employee’s mental or physical illness, treatment or preventive care;
- a family member’s mental or physical illness, treatment or preventive care;
- absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking of the employee or a family member;
- closure of the employee’s workplace due to weather or public emergency or closure of a family member’s school or care facility due to weather or public emergency; and
- when determined by a health authority or health care professional that an employee or their family member is at risk of infecting others with a communicable disease.