Minnesota Pregnancy Accommodation Law: Rights, Requests, and Complaints

Under Minnesota’s pregnancy accommodation law, every employer in the state, down to one with a single employee, must give pregnant and postpartum workers three accommodations on request with no questions asked: more frequent or longer bathroom, food, and water breaks; seating; and a cap of 20 pounds on required lifting. Beyond those three, you can ask for other reasonable adjustments for pregnancy- or childbirth-related conditions, and your employer has to work with you to find something that fits. The rules sit in Minnesota Statutes § 181.939, subdivision 2, and they apply from your first day on the job.¹

Who the Law Covers

Any employer with at least one employee has to comply, whether that’s a private business, a nonprofit, or a state or local government agency.¹ That is a much wider net than the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which only reaches employers with 15 or more workers.²

An employee is anyone who performs services for hire. Independent contractors are not covered.³ There’s no minimum tenure, no hours-worked threshold, and no waiting period. Start today, and you have the rights tomorrow. If an employer controls when, where, and how you do your work, you are likely an employee for this purpose regardless of how your contract labels you.

Job applicants are not explicitly covered by § 181.939, but the Minnesota Human Rights Act treats pregnancy as part of sex discrimination and requires reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities at employers of 15 or more.⁴

The Three Accommodations Your Employer Cannot Refuse

Three adjustments are automatic the moment you request them. Your employer cannot claim undue hardship, and you don’t need a doctor’s note:¹

More frequent or longer breaks for restroom use, food, and water
Seating when your job would otherwise require standing
A limit of 20 pounds on required lifting

No paperwork, no approval process. Ask, and your employer must provide. Pushback on any of these three is already a violation.

Other Reasonable Accommodations

For other adjustments tied to pregnancy or childbirth, the statute gives a non-exhaustive list of what reasonable can look like:¹

Temporary transfer to a less strenuous or hazardous position
A modified schedule or job assignments that fit medical appointments or physical limits
Longer or more frequent break periods beyond what’s automatic
A temporary leave of absence when nothing else works
Lifting limits lower than the automatic 20-pound cap

For anything on this second list, you and your employer have to engage in an interactive process. Your employer can ask for documentation from a licensed healthcare provider or certified doula explaining the medical need. The word interactive matters: both sides work toward a solution, rather than the employer deciding unilaterally what you get.

There are outer limits. The law does not force an employer to create a brand-new position, fire another employee, bump someone with more seniority, or hand you a promotion to make an accommodation work.¹ For this second category only, the employer can also raise an undue hardship defense, though for most items on the list that’s a hard argument to win.

How to Make the Request

For the three automatic accommodations, a verbal request to your supervisor or HR is enough. No medical documentation, no form.

For anything beyond those three, put it in writing. A short email naming the accommodation and the reason gives both sides a clean record. If your employer asks for a provider’s note, that note should describe your physical limitations and what would help, not your full medical history.

Keep copies of every email, letter, and text about your request, with dates for when you asked, when your employer responded, and what was offered or refused. If you end up filing a complaint, that paper trail is your strongest evidence.

No Forced Leave, No Retaliation

Two protections do most of the enforcement work.

First, your employer cannot require you to take a leave of absence or accept any accommodation you did not ask for.¹ If a reasonable accommodation would let you keep working, the employer cannot sideline you with mandatory leave instead. Some employers would rather send a pregnant worker home than adjust a shift or a workflow; the statute blocks that move.

Second, retaliation is prohibited. Your employer cannot fire you, demote you, cut your pay, reduce your hours, or take any other negative action because you asked for or used an accommodation.¹ Retaliation also covers quieter forms of punishment: being moved to undesirable shifts, cut out of meetings, or written up for performance problems that happen to start right after your request.

How State Law Works Alongside the Federal PWFA

You get the benefit of whichever law is more protective on a given point. The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, in effect since 2023, requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, and it does not displace stronger state laws.⁵

Minnesota’s law reaches further on employer size: one employee versus 15. If you work for a small business under 15, state law is your only pregnancy accommodation protection. At larger employers, both apply, and you get the better standard on each issue.

The PWFA names some accommodations that Minnesota’s statute does not list by name, including telework, food or drink at your workstation, and uniform or dress code changes.⁵ Because Minnesota’s list is non-exhaustive, those federal examples can still help frame a request made under state law.

The Minnesota Human Rights Act adds another route. It defines sex to include pregnancy, childbirth, and related disabilities, and it requires employers with 15 or more workers to treat pregnant employees the same as other employees with similar abilities or limitations.⁶ So if your employer gives light duty to a worker with a back injury, it has to offer the same to a pregnant worker with comparable limitations.⁴

Filing a Complaint

If your employer refuses a required accommodation or retaliates, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights is the primary agency for pregnancy-related workplace complaints. The MDHR handles cases involving pregnancy discrimination, denied accommodations, and punishment for requesting them.⁷ You can reach the department at 651-539-1100 or 800-657-3704.⁸

You have one year from the date of the alleged discrimination to file a charge with the MDHR. Miss that deadline and you can forfeit the claim, so don’t wait. The EEOC also accepts pregnancy discrimination charges under federal law, and those filings can be cross-filed with the state agency.

If You’ve Seen the Old Statute Number

Some older handbooks, posters, and online guides still cite Minnesota Statutes § 181.9414. That section was repealed in 2021 and its pregnancy accommodation provisions were moved into § 181.939, subdivision 2.⁹ The substance carried over and was expanded, so the rights are still in force, just under the new number.

1
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 181.939 – Nursing Mothers, Lactating Employees, and Pregnancy Accommodations
2
Federal Register. Implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
3
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 181.940 – Definitions
4
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 363A.08 – Unfair Discriminatory Practices, Employment
5
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
6
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 363A.03 – Definitions
7
Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Minnesota Department of Human Rights
8
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Pregnant Workers and New Parents
9
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 181.9414 – Repealed