Minnesota FMLA Laws: Eligibility, Pay, and Job Protection

Minnesota’s paid family and medical leave law, Chapter 268B of the Minnesota Statutes, gives most workers in the state paid time off and job protection for a serious health condition, a new child, a seriously ill family member, a military family situation, or safety reasons like domestic abuse. Benefits started in 2026, cap at $1,423 per week, and run up to 20 combined weeks per benefit year.¹ Almost every private and public employer is covered, regardless of size, and self-employed workers can opt in.

Who Qualifies

Eligibility turns on how much you earned during your “base period,” which is normally the four most recently completed calendar quarters before you apply. If you apply in the month right after the latest completed quarter, the base period shifts to the first four of the most recent five quarters. The program automatically uses whichever base period gives you more wage credits.²

You need wage credits of at least 5.3% of the state’s average annual wage during that base period. For 2026 that works out to roughly $3,900 in earnings.³ Your average weekly wage is calculated by taking your highest-earning quarter and dividing by 13.

Private and public sector employees are covered. Self-employed workers and independent contractors are not automatically in the program, but they can elect coverage under Section 268B.11, provided they earned at least 5.3% of the state’s average annual wage in net self-employment income in a prior tax year.² Federal employees are not part of this state system, and seasonal employees are excluded from covered employment.

What Counts as Covered Leave

Section 268B.01 recognizes six reasons for leave:

Your own serious health condition, physical or mental, that prevents you from doing your job.
Pregnancy-related medical care, including prenatal care, complications, and recovery from childbirth.
Bonding with a new biological, adopted, or foster child, which must be used within 12 months of the child’s arrival.⁴
Caring for a family member with a serious health condition.
Safety leave for yourself or a family member affected by domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking, covering medical care, counseling, victim services, relocation, and legal action.²
Qualifying exigency related to a family member’s active military duty or deployment, including domestic deployment.

The definition of “family member” is unusually wide. It covers your spouse, domestic partner, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and in-laws, plus anyone you have a genuine personal caregiving relationship with, whether or not you live together.² If you regularly care for an elderly neighbor or a close friend with a chronic illness, that relationship can qualify.

How Much You Get Paid

The benefit replaces a percentage of your average weekly wage, tiered so lower earners get a higher replacement rate:

90% of wages up to $711.50 per week (half the state average).
66% of the portion of your wages between $711.50 and $1,423 per week.
55% of any portion above $1,423 per week.

The maximum weekly benefit is $1,423, matching the state’s average weekly wage at program launch.³ Someone earning $600 a week gets roughly $540; someone earning $2,000 a week hits the $1,423 cap. The state runs a calculator you can use for a specific estimate.¹

How Long You Can Be Out

You can take up to 12 weeks of family leave and up to 12 weeks of medical leave in a benefit year. If you use both in the same year, the combined total is capped at 20 weeks. So a worker who spends 12 weeks recovering from surgery could still take up to 8 weeks of bonding leave with a new child in the same benefit year.⁵

Leave does not have to be taken in one block. Intermittent leave is allowed, and for medical leave your provider’s certification must include the expected frequency and duration. You notify your employer once when the intermittent leave starts, and update them if the schedule changes.⁵

What Comes Out of Your Paycheck

The program is funded by a payroll premium of 0.88% of wages. Employers must cover at least half. Many employers pay the whole thing, but where the cost is split you will see 0.44% deducted from your paycheck. By statute the premium can never exceed 1.1% of taxable wages in a year.⁶

Employers with 30 or fewer employees and average wages at or below 150% of the state average pay a reduced rate: 75% of the standard premium, and they only have to cover 25% of it, with employees picking up the rest through payroll deduction.⁶

Your Job When You Come Back

Your employer must return you to the same position you held before leave, or an equivalent one with the same pay, benefits, working conditions, and status. Equivalent means virtually identical duties, responsibilities, skill level, and authority. You get reinstatement even if your employer hired a replacement or restructured your role while you were gone.⁷

Reinstatement rights start after you have been employed for 90 calendar days. If your absence caused you to miss a required training, license renewal, or similar qualification, your employer must give you a reasonable opportunity to complete it after you return. Your employer cannot push you into a different position against your wishes, though you can voluntarily request a different shift or schedule.⁵

One limit worth understanding: you have no greater right to reinstatement than if you had never left. If your whole department was eliminated and you would have been laid off regardless, your employer can deny reinstatement, but they carry the burden of proving that.

While you are out, your employer must keep your group health insurance coverage in place as if you were still working. You remain responsible for your share of the premium, and the employer cannot drop or reduce coverage.⁷

Retaliation and Penalties

Employers cannot fire, discipline, threaten, or otherwise punish you for requesting or taking leave, and they cannot interfere with your application. These protections apply even if your claim is ultimately denied, as long as you applied in good faith.⁷

The Commissioner of Labor and Industry can impose fines of $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, paid directly to the affected employee. You can also sue for actual damages, reasonable interest, and liquidated damages that can double your recovery, and courts can order reinstatement and other equitable relief. Employers who prove they acted in good faith may get a reduction in liquidated damages, but that is a high bar.⁷

How to Apply

Applications go through the Minnesota Paid Leave portal at paidleave.mn.gov. The program is administered separately from unemployment, so do not look for it on the standard DEED unemployment site.⁸

Every application requires a certification form matching the type of leave. A healthcare provider, adoption or foster agency, military documentation source, or qualifying safety-leave source fills out and signs the relevant portion, depending on the reason for leave. Section 268B.06 sets out the specific documentation for each category.⁴ Forms can be completed on a computer or by hand, then uploaded, faxed, or mailed.⁹

If your need for leave is foreseeable, give your employer at least 30 days’ notice. If it is not foreseeable, notify them as soon as possible, generally the same day you learn about it or the next. Your employer can ask why you did not give 30 days’ notice, so be ready to explain.⁵ Your employer does not approve or deny leave; the state does that after reviewing your application.

How This Fits With Federal FMLA

Minnesota Paid Leave and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act are separate programs with separate protections that often overlap. Federal FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year at employers with 50 or more employees. The Minnesota program provides paid benefits and covers workers regardless of employer size. If your leave qualifies under both laws, your employer may require them to run at the same time.

In practice, that means many workers will use both at once: federal FMLA protecting the job under federal law, Minnesota Paid Leave replacing wages. At smaller employers below the 50-employee federal threshold, the Minnesota program may be your only source of both income and job protection.⁵ Employers may also run Paid Leave concurrently with leave under the Minnesota Parenting and Pregnancy Leave law when the leave qualifies under both.

1
Minnesota Paid Leave. Minnesota Paid Leave Mandatory Employer Poster
2
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.01 – Definitions
3
Minnesota Paid Leave. Estimate Your Payments
4
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.06 – Eligibility Requirements; Payments That Affect Benefits
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Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Chapter 268B – Family and Medical Benefits
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Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.14 – Premium Rates
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Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.09 – Employment Protections
8
Minnesota Paid Leave. Individuals and Families Toolkit
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Minnesota Paid Leave. Providers and Certifiers