What Is Minnesota’s ESST Law and How Does It Work?

Minnesota’s ESST law, formally the Earned Sick and Safe Time law, took effect on January 1, 2024 and requires every employer in the state to give employees paid leave they earn as they work. The baseline rate is one hour of paid time for every 30 hours on the clock, usable for your own illness, a family member’s care, domestic violence situations, bereavement, weather closures, and several other qualifying reasons. There is no small-business exemption and no waiting period before new hires can use what they have earned.

Who the Law Covers

Every employer with at least one employee in Minnesota must comply. That includes sole proprietorships, corporations, nonprofits, and government entities like cities, counties, and school districts.¹ A single person on payroll triggers the obligation.

On the worker side, the threshold is 80 hours of work in a year within Minnesota. If an employer anticipates a worker will hit that mark, the worker qualifies, whether full-time, part-time, or temporary.¹ Independent contractors are not employees under the statute and are excluded. Workers under certain collective bargaining agreements may have separate leave terms, but only where those terms meet or exceed ESST.

How You Earn and Bank Hours

Employees earn at least one hour of ESST for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours in a year.² Accrual starts on day one, and there is no waiting period before hours can be used.³

Unused hours carry into the next year, but the running balance cannot exceed 80 hours at any point unless the employer agrees to a higher cap.² So the annual earning cap is 48 hours, while the lifetime bank can sit as high as 80.

Front-Loading as an Alternative

Instead of tracking accrual hour by hour, an employer can front-load a lump sum at the start of each year. If the employer pays out any unused balance at year-end, 48 hours must be front-loaded. If the employer does not pay out unused hours, the front-loaded amount must be 80 hours.²

Qualifying Reasons to Use ESST

The law allows ESST for a wider range of situations than most paid leave policies.⁴ Covered reasons include:

Your own mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, including preventive care and diagnostic appointments.
The same health-related needs when they apply to a family member.
Domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking affecting you or a family member, including medical attention, counseling, victim services, relocation, legal advice, and court proceedings.
Your workplace closing because of weather or a public emergency, or a family member’s school or childcare facility closing for the same reasons.
Being sent home over disease transmission concerns during a public emergency, awaiting test results after exposure, or being directed by a health authority to stay out of the community.
Attending a funeral or memorial for a family member, or handling legal and financial matters after a family member’s death.

Bereavement catches some people off guard because older leave policies treat it as a separate benefit. Here it is built in.

Who Counts as a Family Member

The ESST definition of family is unusually broad. It covers your spouse or registered domestic partner, children (including foster and adult children), parents, stepparents, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. It also covers the same relatives of your spouse or domestic partner.¹

Beyond that list, the law covers anyone whose close association with you is the equivalent of a family relationship, plus one additional person per year whom you designate. You can name a close friend, a roommate, or anyone else you consider family, even without any legal or biological tie.¹

How to Request and Use the Time

You use ESST in the same time increments in which you are paid. Employers are not required to allow increments smaller than 15 minutes, and they cannot force you to use increments larger than four hours.³ Leaving two hours early for a doctor’s appointment cannot be charged as a half day.

For a foreseeable absence like a scheduled surgery, give advance notice according to your employer’s policy. If the need is sudden, notify your employer as soon as practicable. You are not required to share specific medical details or name a diagnosis when requesting the time.³

Documentation

An employer may ask for reasonable documentation only when you use ESST for more than two consecutive scheduled workdays.³ A medical provider’s note works for a health absence; a court, law enforcement, or victim services record works for a safety absence.⁴

If you cannot obtain the requested documentation, you can submit a written statement in your own words confirming the absence was for a qualifying purpose. The statement can be written in your first language and does not need to be notarized or follow any particular format.³

Pay Rate

ESST is paid at the same base rate you earn during normal working hours, and never less than the applicable minimum wage.⁵ The payment lands on your regular paycheck for that pay period.

What Employers Must Do

At the start of employment, employers must give each worker a written notice about ESST rights in English and in the employee’s primary language if it is not English. Employers that use handbooks must include ESST information there as well. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry provides a uniform notice template in multiple languages.⁵

Every pay stub must show two numbers: total ESST hours available to use, and total ESST hours used during that pay period.³ If those figures are missing, the employer is out of compliance. Check yours.

Employers must keep all ESST records for at least three years and make them available to the Commissioner of Labor and Industry within 72 hours of a request.³

Retaliation and Enforcement

Employers cannot discipline, demote, terminate, or take any other adverse action against you for requesting or using ESST.³ Attendance-point systems that treat ESST use the same as unexcused absences violate the law.

If your employer retaliates or refuses to provide ESST, you can file a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry or bring a civil action in court. An employer in violation is liable for the ESST that should have been provided plus an equal amount in liquidated damages. If the exact hours owed are unclear, the default liability is 48 hours per year of noncompliance, doubled by the liquidated damages provision.³

What Happens When You Leave a Job

Minnesota does not require employers to pay out unused ESST when employment ends. Your banked hours expire at separation. One exception matters: if your employer rehires you within 120 days of a layoff or termination, your previous ESST balance must be restored. That protection matters most for seasonal workers and employees called back after a temporary layoff.

How ESST Fits with Other Leave Rules

Federal FMLA

ESST and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act do different jobs. FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave, but only at employers with 50 or more employees, and only after you have worked for that employer at least 12 months and 1,250 hours.⁶ ESST applies to employers of any size, requires no minimum tenure, and pays. The trade-off is scale: ESST caps at 48 hours per year, while FMLA covers far more time. When both apply to the same absence, employers can generally run them concurrently, so ESST hours count against the FMLA allotment while making those hours paid.

Minneapolis and St. Paul Ordinances

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul had their own sick and safe time ordinances before the statewide law took effect, and those ordinances remain in force. Where the local rule and the state rule differ on a specific point, employers in those cities must follow whichever is more favorable to the employee on that point.³ In practice, that can mean following the state law on some issues and the city ordinance on others.

Existing Employer PTO

If your employer already offers a paid time off policy that meets or exceeds the ESST requirements, no separate ESST bank is needed. The existing policy must provide at least the same accrual rate, permit the same qualifying uses, and comply with the same carryover and anti-retaliation standards.⁷ A PTO plan that looks generous but limits leave to vacation purposes only would not satisfy ESST.

1
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9445 – Definitions
2
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9446 – Accrual of Earned Sick and Safe Time
3
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. FAQs: Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST)
4
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9447 – Use of Earned Sick and Safe Time
5
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST)
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act
7
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 181.9448 – Effect on Other Law or Policy