MN FMLA and Minnesota Paid Leave: Eligibility, Pay, and Rights

Minnesota workers are covered by three overlapping leave laws: the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, Minnesota’s Pregnancy and Parenting Leave Act, and, starting January 1, 2026, the state’s new Paid Leave program under Chapter 268B. Federal FMLA gives eligible employees up to 12 unpaid, job-protected weeks per year. Minnesota’s parenting statute reaches smaller employers and newer hires that FMLA misses. And the state Paid Leave program now layers partial wage replacement on top, funded through payroll premiums. Together, these programs form the framework for Minnesota FMLA and paid leave rights, and each has its own eligibility rules, qualifying events, and benefits.

Who Qualifies

Eligibility is where the three programs diverge most sharply. Many workers qualify for one but not another.

Minnesota Paid Leave

The state paid leave program has the broadest reach. You qualify if you work or live in Minnesota for at least half the year and earned roughly $3,900 in the prior year, which is 5.3 percent of the state’s average annual wage.¹ There is no minimum tenure with your current employer, no hours-per-week floor, and no employer size threshold. The program covers nearly all Minnesota employers; the only exceptions are the federal government and tribal entities.²

Federal FMLA

FMLA is stricter. You must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours during those months, and work at a location where your employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles.³ That headcount rule excludes many workers at smaller businesses. If you work through a staffing agency, both the agency and the company where you’re placed count you when determining whether the 50-employee threshold is met.⁴

Minnesota Pregnancy and Parenting Leave

Minnesota’s Pregnancy and Parenting Leave Act under MN Stat. § 181.941 covers employees of any employer with one or more employees.⁵ There is no 1,250-hour rule and no 12-month tenure rule. A worker at a five-person company who started two months ago can qualify for unpaid parenting leave under Minnesota law even when federal FMLA does not apply.

What Reasons Are Covered

Each program covers a slightly different set of situations, and matching your circumstance to the right program determines what you actually get.

Federal FMLA

FMLA entitles eligible employees to 12 workweeks per year for:⁶

Birth of a child, or placement of a child through adoption or foster care
Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition⁷
Your own serious health condition that prevents you from working
Qualifying exigencies arising from a family member’s foreign military deployment

A separate FMLA provision allows up to 26 workweeks to care for a current servicemember or a veteran discharged within the past five years who has a serious injury or illness, if you are their spouse, child, parent, or next of kin.⁸

Minnesota Parenting Leave

MN Stat. § 181.941 provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a biological or adoptive parent in connection with the birth or adoption of a child, and for pregnancy-related health needs including prenatal care.⁹ This statute does not cover foster care placement, though federal FMLA does.

Minnesota Paid Leave

The state paid leave program covers your own serious health condition, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, pregnancy-related medical needs, bonding with a new child, certain military-related needs, and safety leave tied to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking.¹⁰ It recognizes a broader list of family relationships than federal FMLA, including in-laws and siblings.

How Much Time You Get, and Whether It Stacks

Minnesota Paid Leave provides up to 12 weeks of paid family leave and 12 weeks of paid medical leave per benefit year. If you need both types in the same year, the combined cap is 20 weeks rather than 24.¹⁰ Federal FMLA provides 12 workweeks per 12-month period, or 26 for military caregiver leave.⁶ Minnesota parenting leave is up to 12 weeks, unpaid, with the length chosen by the employee.⁹

When your leave qualifies under both federal FMLA and the state paid leave program, your employer can require both to run at the same time. The 12 weeks of FMLA and the 12 weeks of state paid leave count down together rather than adding up to 24. But if you take state paid leave for a reason FMLA doesn’t cover, such as caring for a sibling, those weeks don’t touch your federal entitlement. The leave effectively stacks, giving you more total time off in the year.

What Minnesota Paid Leave Actually Pays

Benefits are calculated from your average weekly wage, using your highest-earning quarter, on a tiered replacement schedule:¹

Wages up to 50 percent of the state average weekly wage ($711.50) are replaced at 90 percent
Wages between 50 and 100 percent of the state average ($711.50 to $1,423) are replaced at 66 percent on that portion
Wages above the state average are replaced at 55 percent on that portion

The maximum weekly benefit is $1,423, equal to the state average weekly wage. Someone earning $700 per week receives about $630. Someone earning $2,000 per week hits the $1,423 cap.

Family leave benefits are subject to federal income tax. Medical leave benefits are split: the portion attributable to your own contributions is generally tax-free, while the portion tied to employer contributions is taxable. The IRS has provided transitional relief from certain withholding penalties through 2026 while states and employers adjust.

Who Pays the Premium

The state Paid Leave program is funded through payroll premiums. For 2026, the total premium rate is 0.88 percent of wages, applied to earnings up to the Social Security taxable wage base.² Employers must pay at least half, and up to 0.44 percent can be deducted from your paycheck. The rate is capped at 1.1 percent in any year.

Small employers get a reduced rate of 75 percent of the standard premium and must pay at least 25 percent of the calculated rate themselves.² Employers can also opt out of the state program by offering an equivalent private plan that meets or exceeds state coverage and doesn’t cost workers more than the state plan would.¹¹

Requesting Leave

Most workers need to handle two tracks: the state benefit claim and the federal FMLA job-protection request.

If your need for leave is foreseeable, such as a scheduled surgery or an expected birth, federal FMLA requires at least 30 days’ advance notice.¹² For unforeseeable events, notify your employer as soon as practical. Put the request in writing so you have a record. For state paid leave benefits, file directly with the state program; the state pays benefits itself, separate from your employer’s internal leave process.

For FMLA leave related to a health condition, your employer can require a medical certification. The Department of Labor provides standardized forms, including WH-380-F for a family member’s condition.¹³ Your provider does not need to disclose a diagnosis but must explain why the condition requires leave and estimate its duration.

Once you request FMLA leave, your employer has five business days to tell you whether you are eligible and to explain your rights and responsibilities. After receiving your certification, the employer has another five business days to issue a designation notice confirming whether the absence counts as FMLA.¹⁴ Missing those deadlines does not waive your leave rights.

Both FMLA and Minnesota Paid Leave allow intermittent leave in smaller blocks rather than a single continuous stretch. Your employer cannot deny intermittent leave when it is medically necessary.

Your Rights During and After Leave

While you are on FMLA leave, your employer must maintain your group health insurance on the same terms as if you were still working.¹⁵ The employer keeps paying its share of the premium, and you keep paying whatever employee share you normally pay. If premiums change during your leave, you pay the new rate along with active employees.¹⁶

When you return from FMLA leave, you are entitled to your same position or one with equivalent pay, benefits, and working conditions. Minnesota’s parenting leave statute provides the same guarantee: your former position or a comparable one with the same duties, hours, and pay.¹⁷

Both federal and state law prohibit retaliation for requesting or using protected leave. Retaliation includes firing, demoting, cutting hours, or any other action that punishes you for exercising leave rights. If your employer violates FMLA, you can recover lost wages and benefits, an equal amount in liquidated damages that effectively doubles the compensation, interest, and attorney fees.¹⁸ A court may reduce liquidated damages if the employer proves the violation was in good faith. Minnesota employers who fail to comply with paid leave notice requirements face civil penalties of $50 per employee for a first violation and $300 per employee for later violations.²

When FMLA Runs Out

Twelve weeks isn’t always enough. If you have a disability that requires additional time off after your FMLA is exhausted, the Americans with Disabilities Act may require your employer to grant more unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation. Using up FMLA does not, by itself, justify a refusal to provide more leave. The employer must engage in an interactive process to determine whether additional time is feasible without undue hardship. Employers frequently get this wrong, assuming exhaustion of FMLA means they can demand an immediate return or terminate. It does not.

Using PTO Alongside State Paid Leave

If you are on FMLA leave and not receiving state paid leave benefits, your employer can generally require you to use accrued vacation or sick time so the leave is not entirely unpaid. A 2025 Department of Labor opinion letter clarified a different rule when a state paid leave program is paying benefits: your employer cannot unilaterally force you to substitute accrued PTO on top of Minnesota Paid Leave. You and your employer can agree to top off state benefits with accrued paid time, but the employer cannot mandate it. That preserves your banked PTO for after leave ends, rather than draining it during a period when the state is already replacing wages.

1
Minnesota Paid Leave. Estimate Your Payments
2
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268B – Family and Medical Benefit Insurance
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Joint Employment and Primary and Secondary Employer Responsibilities Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
5
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.940 – Definitions
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2612 – Leave Requirement
7
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.113 – Serious Health Condition
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28M – Using FMLA Leave Because of a Family Members Military Service
9
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.941 – Pregnancy and Parenting Leave
10
Minnesota Paid Leave. How Paid Leave Works
11
Minnesota Paid Leave. Equivalent Plans for Paid Leave
12
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.302 – Employee Notice Requirements for Foreseeable FMLA Leave
13
U.S. Department of Labor. Certification of Health Care Provider for Family Members Serious Health Condition
14
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.300 – Employer Notice Requirements
15
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.209 – Maintenance of Employee Benefits
16
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor – Employee Payment of Group Health Benefit Premiums
17
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.942 – Reinstatement After Leave
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2617 – Enforcement