Minnesota’s Earned Sick and Safe Time law gives nearly every employee in the state paid leave for personal and family health needs, safety situations tied to domestic abuse or stalking, and certain closures or public health emergencies. The law took effect January 1, 2024 and applies to employers of all sizes. You earn one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours a year, and you can bank up to 80 hours total.
Who Qualifies
Any person who works at least 80 hours in a year for an employer in Minnesota is covered, whether part-time, full-time, or temporary.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9445 – Definitions Coverage follows where the work is physically done, not where the company is based. Someone working remotely from Duluth for a Texas company qualifies; a Minnesota company’s employee working entirely in Wisconsin does not.
Independent contractors are excluded from the statute’s definition of employee.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9445 – Definitions Classification depends on the actual working relationship, not a label in a contract, so a misclassified worker may still be entitled to ESST. Federal employees fall under separate federal leave frameworks rather than this state law.
The law defines “family member” broadly. Beyond spouses, children, and parents, it covers siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, foster relationships, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and the same categories on a spouse’s or domestic partner’s side. It also reaches anyone related by blood or whose close association with you is the equivalent of a family relationship, and every employee can designate one additional person each year as a family member for ESST purposes.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9445 – Definitions You can use ESST to care for a close friend or chosen family member, not just blood relatives.
How You Earn and Bank Hours
Accrual begins on your first day of work at a rate of one hour of ESST for every 30 hours worked.2Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9446 – Accrual of Earned Sick and Safe Time There is no waiting period before newly accrued hours become available for use. Annual accrual is capped at 48 hours unless your employer sets a higher limit.
Unused hours carry over to the next year, but your total bank cannot exceed 80 hours at any point.2Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9446 – Accrual of Earned Sick and Safe Time If you end a year with 40 unused hours, you can still accrue up to 40 more the following year before hitting the ceiling. Employers can always offer more than the statutory minimum.
Frontloading Instead of Tracking Accrual
Rather than tracking hour-by-hour accrual, employers can frontload hours at the start of each year under one of two options:2Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9446 – Accrual of Earned Sick and Safe Time
- Make 48 hours available immediately, pay out any unused hours at year’s end at the employee’s base rate, and skip carryover.
- Make 80 hours available immediately with no payout and no carryover required.
What You Can Use It For
The law covers three broad categories: health needs, safety situations, and closures or public health emergencies.3Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9447 – Use of Earned Sick and Safe Time
Health leave covers your own physical or mental health, including doctor’s appointments, preventive care, and recovery from illness or injury. The same applies when a covered family member is sick, has a medical appointment, or needs ongoing treatment.
Safe time is for employees dealing with domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking, whether the person affected is you or a family member. Qualifying uses include seeking medical attention, counseling, meeting with a victim services organization, consulting an attorney, participating in legal proceedings, or relocating to a safer home.
You can also use ESST when your workplace closes because of weather or another public emergency, when your child’s school or care facility closes for the same reason, or when a health authority or healthcare provider determines your presence in the community would endanger others because of exposure to a communicable disease, even if you haven’t contracted it yourself.
How Your Pay Is Calculated
ESST is paid at the same base rate you earn during regular working hours.4Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) For hourly workers, that is your normal wage. For employees whose pay varies, such as tipped workers, the base rate cannot be less than the applicable minimum wage.
Requesting Leave: Notice, Documentation, and Increments
When your need for leave is foreseeable, like a scheduled procedure, your employer can require up to seven days of advance notice.3Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9447 – Use of Earned Sick and Safe Time The employer must have a written notice policy explaining how to request leave; if they never gave you one, they cannot deny the request for lack of notice. When the need isn’t foreseeable, you notify the employer as reasonably required under its policy.
For absences of more than two consecutive scheduled workdays, the employer can request reasonable documentation that the leave qualifies.3Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9447 – Use of Earned Sick and Safe Time A note from a healthcare provider works for medical leave. For safe time, acceptable documentation includes a police report, an order for protection, or a written statement from a victim services organization. Employers must keep all documentation confidential.
You can use ESST in the smallest increment your employer’s payroll system tracks, and the employer cannot force you to use it in blocks larger than four hours.5Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Earned Sick and Safe Time Employer Checklist If payroll tracks 15-minute increments, you can take 15 minutes of ESST for a short appointment. An employer that insists on half-day or full-day minimums is breaking the law.
What Your Employer Must Do
Employers must give every employee a written notice of ESST rights in both English and the employee’s primary language.5Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Earned Sick and Safe Time Employer Checklist The notice must explain how ESST accrues, what it can be used for, and that retaliation is prohibited.6Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. FAQs – Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST)
Each pay period, your earnings statement must show the total ESST hours available and the hours you used during that period.5Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Earned Sick and Safe Time Employer Checklist Employers must keep ESST records for at least three years.6Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. FAQs – Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST)
What Happens When You Leave the Job
Employers don’t have to pay out unused ESST when you separate. But if you return to the same employer within 180 days, your previously accrued balance must be reinstated.6Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. FAQs – Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) If the employer did voluntarily pay out your hours at separation, those hours don’t have to be reinstated. The reinstatement rule matters most for seasonal workers and anyone who takes a break and comes back.
Retaliation and What a Violation Costs the Employer
Employers cannot retaliate against you for requesting or using ESST, and they cannot require you to find a replacement worker as a condition of taking leave.6Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. FAQs – Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) Attendance-point systems that count ESST absences against you violate the law.
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry enforces ESST, and employees can also file a private civil lawsuit. An employer that fails to provide or allow required ESST owes the hours you should have received plus an equal amount in liquidated damages. If the exact hours owed are unclear, the employer owes 48 hours per year of noncompliance, doubled as liquidated damages.6Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. FAQs – Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) An employer that ignored the law for two years could owe the equivalent of 192 hours of pay per affected worker.
How ESST Fits With Federal FMLA
If an absence qualifies under both ESST and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the two can run concurrently. FMLA leave is unpaid, but either you or your employer can substitute accrued paid leave for the unpaid FMLA period.7U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions When paid leave is used for an FMLA reason, that time is FMLA-protected. In practice, your ESST hours can reduce the unpaid gap during an FMLA absence, but you cannot stack them sequentially to get more total leave.
Minneapolis and St. Paul
Both Minneapolis and St. Paul had their own sick and safe time ordinances before the state law, and those local ordinances remain in force. Where the state law and a local ordinance differ, employers must apply whichever rule is more favorable to the employee.4Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) Outside those two cities, the state law is the only ESST requirement.