Minnesota’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program starts collecting premiums and paying benefits on January 1, 2026. If you work in Minnesota and hit a qualifying event, you can receive up to $1,423 per week for as many as 20 weeks in a benefit year, with your job protected after 90 days on the payroll. The program covers nearly every worker in the state regardless of employer size, and it applies whether your employer has five people or five thousand.
Who Is Covered
Almost every employee in Minnesota qualifies, in both the private sector and most of the public sector. Employer size does not matter. Federal government employees are excluded from the state program.
To collect benefits, you need to have earned at least 5.3 percent of the state’s average annual wage during your base period, which is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.04 – Benefits That works out to roughly $3,900, so anyone working steadily clears it easily.
Self-employed workers and independent contractors are not automatically covered but can opt in. The commitment runs 104 consecutive calendar weeks, and you can withdraw only at the start of a calendar year with at least 30 days’ notice. If you opt in, you pay the full premium yourself because there is no employer share.2Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.11 – Self-Employed and Independent Contractor Coverage
What Kinds of Leave Qualify
The program covers five categories, and you can combine them within the same year as long as you stay under the annual caps.
- Medical leave for your own serious health condition, including physical or mental conditions that require inpatient care or ongoing treatment.
- Family care leave when a family member has a serious health condition and needs your support.
- Bonding leave to welcome a new child through birth, adoption, or foster placement.
- Safety leave if you or a family member is dealing with domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking and needs time for legal help, medical care, or safety planning.
- Qualifying exigency leave tied to a family member’s active military duty or call to active duty.
Every category requires documentation. Medical and family care claims need certification from a healthcare provider. Bonding claims need proof of the child’s arrival. Safety leave may require documentation from law enforcement, a court, or a service provider. Self-certification alone is not enough.
Who Counts as a Family Member
Minnesota’s definition is broad. It covers your spouse or domestic partner, children (biological, adopted, foster, or stepchildren), parents, siblings, grandchildren, grandparents (including your spouse’s grandparents), and sons- or daughters-in-law. It also reaches anyone with whom you have a personal relationship that creates an expectation you would provide care, even if you do not share a household.3Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.01 – Definitions A close friend you have been caring for, or an elderly neighbor who depends on you, could qualify under that last piece.
How Much You Get Paid
Weekly benefits use a tiered formula tied to how your wages compare to the statewide average weekly wage of $1,423. Lower earners get a larger share of their paycheck replaced:
- Wages up to $711.50 per week are replaced at 90 percent.
- Wages between $711.50 and $1,423 are replaced at 66 percent.
- Wages above $1,423 are replaced at 55 percent.
The weekly maximum for anyone is $1,423, and that cap adjusts annually.4Minnesota Paid Leave. Estimate Your Payments
Take a worker earning $1,000 per week. The first $711.50 is replaced at 90 percent ($640.35), and the remaining $288.50 is replaced at 66 percent ($190.41). The weekly benefit comes out to about $830.76, roughly 83 percent of regular pay. Someone earning $500 per week would get $450, replacing nearly all of their income.
There is no unpaid waiting period. The first seven days of your leave are called the initial paid week and are paid retroactively once the qualifying event is confirmed, with that amount folded into your first benefit check.3Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.01 – Definitions
How Long You Can Take
You can receive up to 12 weeks of medical leave and up to 12 weeks of family leave (bonding, safety, family care, or qualifying exigency) in a single benefit year. The combined ceiling across both categories is 20 weeks.5Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B – Family and Medical Benefits If you use all 12 weeks of medical leave, you have up to 8 weeks left for family leave, and vice versa.
What Comes Out of Your Paycheck
The total premium rate for 2026 is 0.88 percent of wages. Employers must pay at least half, and the rest is deducted from your paycheck.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.14 – Premiums Many employers will split it evenly at 0.44 percent each, and some may cover more than their required half.
For a worker earning $60,000 per year, the employee share at a 50/50 split is about $264 annually, or roughly $5 per week. The deduction cannot push your take-home pay below the applicable minimum wage.
How to File a Claim
When your need for leave is foreseeable, give your employer at least 30 days’ advance notice before the leave starts.7Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.085 – Notice to Employer; Schedules For unexpected events like emergency surgery or a sudden illness, notify your employer as soon as you reasonably can.
Applications go through the Minnesota Paid Leave portal at pl.mn.gov. You will need your Social Security Number or ITIN, your employer’s contact information, and documentation for your reason for leave. Medical claims need a completed provider certification describing your condition and expected time away. Bonding leave needs proof of birth, adoption, or placement. Safety leave needs documentation from law enforcement, a court, or a domestic violence service provider.
Once approved, payments come through direct deposit or a state-issued debit card. If your medical leave extends past the initial approval, the state may require recertification.
Job and Health Insurance Protection
After 90 calendar days on the job, you have the right to return to the same position, or to a genuinely equivalent one with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions.8Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.09 – Employment Protections Your employer cannot deny reinstatement simply because they filled your role or restructured while you were out.
That threshold is far lower than federal FMLA, which requires 12 months of employment, 1,250 hours logged, and an employer with 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Minnesota’s program has none of those restrictions. If you meet the wage floor and have been on the job 90 days, you are covered.
Your employer must also keep your group health insurance in place during leave on the same terms as if you were still working. You keep paying your normal employee share of the premium, and the employer cannot drop or change your coverage because you are on leave.9Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.09 – Employment Protections – Section: Continued Insurance
If Your Employer Retaliates
Employers cannot fire, discipline, threaten, or otherwise retaliate against you for requesting or using paid leave, and they cannot obstruct or interfere with your application. Violations carry penalties of $1,000 to $10,000 per incident paid directly to the affected employee.8Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.09 – Employment Protections You can also file a civil lawsuit and recover damages, liquidated damages (potentially doubling your award), and attorney fees.
Using PTO Alongside Your Benefit
Because the state benefit replaces only part of your income, you may want to use accrued vacation or sick time to close the gap. Minnesota allows this, but your employer cannot require it. The choice is yours. If you decide to substitute PTO for the state benefit, report that to the Paid Leave division so your state payment gets adjusted.
A January 2025 U.S. Department of Labor opinion letter confirmed that employers cannot force you to burn through PTO while you are already receiving partial pay from a state program. The employer’s ability to require PTO substitution under the FMLA only applies during unpaid portions of leave.
How This Fits With Federal FMLA
If you qualify for both Minnesota Paid Leave and federal FMLA, your employer can require the two to run concurrently.10Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B.27 – Relationship to Other Leave; Construction The state benefit adds income replacement to what would otherwise be unpaid FMLA weeks, but the two generally do not stack end-to-end for extra time off.
Workers who do not qualify for FMLA at all, because their employer is too small or they have not been there long enough, still get full job protection under Minnesota’s program once they hit 90 days on the job.
How Benefits Are Taxed
The tax treatment depends on which type of leave you take. Family leave benefits (bonding, family care, safety leave, and qualifying exigency) are fully taxable as income for both federal and Minnesota purposes, and the state reports these on Form 1099-G.11EY Tax News. Minnesota Issues Guidance on the Income Tax Treatment of Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Benefits and Premiums
Medical leave benefits get more favorable treatment. Only the portion attributable to your employer’s premium contribution counts as taxable income. With most employers paying exactly half of the premium, roughly 50 percent of your medical leave benefit is taxable and the other half is not. For certain small employers with a reduced contribution requirement, only 33 percent is taxable.11EY Tax News. Minnesota Issues Guidance on the Income Tax Treatment of Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Benefits and Premiums
The IRS has delayed treating medical leave benefits as third-party sick pay (which would subject them to FICA) until 2027. For 2026 benefits, medical leave is reported on Form 1099-G rather than Form W-2. The state does not automatically withhold federal income tax from benefit payments, so plan to set money aside or request voluntary withholding.