A Minnesota leave of absence in 2026 can come from several stacked laws: the new state Paid Leave insurance program that started paying benefits on January 1, 2026, Earned Sick and Safe Time, pregnancy and parenting leave, a handful of situational leaves for things like organ donation and voting, and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act layered on top. Which ones apply depends on your employer’s size, how long you’ve worked there, and why you need the time off. In many cases more than one law covers the same absence, and the weeks run at the same time rather than adding together.
Minnesota Paid Leave
The Minnesota Paid Leave program under Chapter 268B is the biggest change for workers this year. It began paying benefits on January 1, 2026, and unlike the older unpaid leave laws it actually replaces part of your wages while you’re off.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B – Family and Medical Benefit Insurance
To qualify, you need to spend at least 50 percent of your work time in Minnesota, have earned at least $3,900 in the 12 months before your leave, have a healthcare or service provider confirm your need for leave, and still have leave available in your benefit year.
The program provides up to 12 weeks of medical leave for your own serious health condition, including pregnancy, childbirth, and recovery. It also provides up to 12 weeks of family leave to bond with a new child, care for a family member with a serious health condition, handle issues tied to a family member’s military deployment, or address safety concerns from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. If you use both types in the same benefit year, the combined cap is 20 weeks.2Minnesota Paid Leave. Minnesota Paid Leave
You apply through the state portal at paidleave.mn.gov. One thing to know before you plan around it: your employer can require Minnesota Paid Leave to run at the same time as FMLA or state pregnancy and parenting leave, so the weeks overlap rather than stack.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B – Family and Medical Benefit Insurance
Earned Sick and Safe Time
Every employer in Minnesota, regardless of size, must provide Earned Sick and Safe Time. You accrue one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours a year, if you’re expected to work at least 80 hours in the year for that employer in Minnesota.3Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9446 – Accrual of Earned Sick and Safe Time4Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9445 – Definitions
ESST covers your own illness and a family member’s medical care, but the “safe time” side is broader than many workers realize. You can use the hours for medical attention, victim advocacy services, counseling, relocating or securing your home, or pursuing legal action related to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking. It also covers absences when your workplace or your child’s school closes due to weather or a public emergency, situations where a health authority determines your presence would risk spreading a communicable disease, and funeral arrangements or related legal and financial matters after a family member’s death.5Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9447 – Use of Earned Sick and Safe Time
Pregnancy and Parenting Leave
The Minnesota Pregnancy and Parental Leave Act gives you up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave as a biological or adoptive parent, or for prenatal care or pregnancy-related health conditions.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.941 – Pregnancy and Parenting Leave It applies to any employer with one or more employees, so small-business workers are covered.7Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.940 – Definitions
You need 12 consecutive months of service with the employer to qualify. There’s no minimum hours requirement, which means part-time workers with enough tenure are eligible. For a birth or adoption, the leave has to start within 12 months of the child’s arrival.
When you return, you’re entitled to your former position or a comparable role at the same pay, hours, and benefits. Automatic pay increases that occurred during your leave apply to you, and you keep the seniority and benefits you had before you left. If a legitimate layoff eliminated your job while you were out, you don’t get automatic reinstatement, but you retain all the rights you would have had under the employer’s layoff and recall system.8Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.942 – Reinstatement
Other Situational Leaves
Bone Marrow and Organ Donation
If you’re donating bone marrow, your employer must give you up to 40 hours of paid leave. Your employer can ask for a doctor’s verification of the purpose and expected length of each absence, and if you go through screening and don’t ultimately qualify as a donor, you still keep the paid time you already used.9Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.945 – Leave for Bone Marrow Donations
Organ donation leave provides up to 40 hours of paid leave per donation, but only from public employers with 20 or more employees, and only for employees who average at least 20 hours per week.10Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9456 – Leave for Organ Donation
Voting
You have the right to be absent for the time needed to get to your polling place, vote, and return, without any deduction from your pay. This covers regularly scheduled elections, elections to fill federal and state vacancies, and presidential nomination primaries.11Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 204C.04 – Employees Time off to Vote Your employer cannot require you to use personal or vacation time.12Minnesota Secretary of State. Time off Work to Vote
School Conferences and Activities
You can take up to 16 hours of leave in any 12-month period for a child’s school conference, classroom activity, or child care observation that can’t be scheduled outside your work hours. It’s unpaid, but you can substitute vacation or other accrued paid time. Give your employer reasonable advance notice and try to schedule the time to minimize disruption.13Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9412 – School Conference and Activities Leave
Lactation Breaks
Employers must provide reasonable unpaid break time each day to express breast milk for an infant, ideally overlapping with existing break time, and must make reasonable efforts to provide a private space near your work area that isn’t a bathroom stall.14Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.939 – Nursing Mothers
Civil Air Patrol and Military Family
Civil Air Patrol members can take unpaid leave for service requested by the state or a political subdivision, unless the absence would unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.15Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.946 – Leave for Civil Air Patrol Service
If an immediate family member serving in the U.S. armed forces is injured or killed during active service, you’re entitled to up to 10 working days of unpaid leave. Immediate family for this law means a parent, child, grandparent, sibling, or spouse of the service member. Give as much notice as is practical.16Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.947 – Leave for Immediate Family Members of Military Personnel Injured or Killed in Active Service
Federal FMLA
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period and requires your employer to maintain your group health insurance on the same terms as if you were still working. The eligibility bar is higher than most Minnesota laws: your employer must have at least 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite, you must have worked there at least 12 months, and you must have logged at least 1,250 hours of actual work in that 12-month period. Paid time off and prior leave hours don’t count toward the 1,250.17U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act
FMLA covers the birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care, caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition, and your own serious health condition. It also offers qualifying exigency leave when a family member is called to covered active duty, for things like short-notice deployment issues, arranging childcare, financial and legal matters, military events, and up to 15 calendar days with a service member on rest and recuperation leave.18U.S. Department of Labor. Qualifying Exigency Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
How the Leaves Stack
If you qualify for both an FMLA leave and a Minnesota leave for the same absence, the weeks typically run concurrently. Twelve weeks of pregnancy leave under Minnesota law can be counted against your 12-week FMLA entitlement, and employers can require Minnesota Paid Leave to run at the same time as FMLA and state pregnancy and parenting leave.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B – Family and Medical Benefit Insurance
The practical upside is that the paid benefit fills the income gap during weeks that would otherwise be unpaid FMLA. The downside: you don’t get 12 paid weeks followed by another 12 unpaid FMLA weeks. Where Minnesota law does give you more than FMLA is in scope. ESST covers situations FMLA doesn’t, like domestic violence safety needs, and Minnesota’s pregnancy and parenting leave reaches employers too small for FMLA. If you work for an employer with fewer than 50 employees, you have no FMLA rights, but you may still have Minnesota Paid Leave, ESST, and pregnancy and parenting leave protections.
Requesting Leave
For foreseeable leave like a planned surgery, scheduled adoption, or expected birth, federal rules require at least 30 days of advance notice when practical.19U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28E – Requesting Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act When the need is sudden, give notice as soon as you reasonably can. Check your employee handbook for the internal procedure, submit your request in writing through HR or the employee portal your employer uses, and keep dated copies of everything.
Your employer will likely request medical certification. The form focuses on whether your condition qualifies for protected leave, not on your specific diagnosis. You have 15 calendar days to return the completed certification.20eCFR. 29 CFR 825.305 – Certification, General Rule For ongoing conditions, recertification is generally limited to no more than every 30 days and only in connection with an absence.21U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Advisor – Recertification
After you submit your request, your employer has five business days to tell you whether you’re eligible for FMLA leave and to outline related obligations. Once the employer has sufficient certification, it has another five business days to issue a designation notice confirming whether the leave is approved and how it will be counted against your entitlement.22U.S. Department of Labor. The FMLA Leave Process
Health Insurance While You’re Out
Under FMLA, your employer must maintain your group health insurance on the same terms as if you were still working, but you still owe your share of the premium.17U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act On paid leave, premiums usually continue through regular payroll deduction. During unpaid FMLA leave, the employer must give advance written notice explaining how you’ll pay. Payment methods vary: some employers mirror the payroll schedule, some follow a COBRA-like timeline, and some allow prepayment through a cafeteria plan. The premium can’t be higher than what you’d pay if you weren’t on leave.23U.S. Department of Labor. Employee Payment of Group Health Benefit Premiums
If Your Employer Retaliates
Under the Minnesota Paid Leave program, employers who interfere with your right to request or receive benefits face fines of $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, and you may be entitled to damages, interest, and liquidated damages on top of that.24Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Job Protections Under Minnesota Paid Leave
State leave law complaints go to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Federal FMLA complaints go to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Either way, document the request, any written communications about it, and any adverse actions that followed, including schedule changes, demotion, or termination.