Articles Discussing General Issues In Minnesota Labor & Employment Law.

Minnesota’s Paid Leave Division recently published final proposed rules (“Proposed Rules”) that, if adopted, will regulate the state’s Paid Leave Law. The Paid Leave Law establishes a benefit insurance program for paid family and medical leave for covered Minnesota employees and takes effect on January 1, 2026. The Proposed Rules

With Election Day approaching, here is a timely reminder for employers in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota regarding their obligations under these states’ laws to excuse employees from work to go to the polls. With many voters opting to vote early or by mail, the number of voters

Effective January 1, 2025, employers with thirty or more workers in Minnesota will be required to provide salary ranges and a general description of benefits in job postings—a requirement that appears to apply to recruiting and staffing companies in Minnesota seeking candidates to work for employers in other states.

Minnesota’s legislature rushed through several bills this year affecting recruiting and staffing associations and other service providers such as property management companies. One such law may, as one member of the Minnesota House of Representatives noted, have “profound” consequences for service providers regarding contractual conversion fees. As the law is

On May 24, 2024, Minnesota’s governor signed an omnibus bill, HF4757 which included the new Consumer Data Privacy Act. The state joins Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Rhode Island in passing consumer data privacy laws this year.

Minnesota’s law takes effect July 31, 2025, except that postsecondary

Companies in Minnesota that work with independent contractors should be aware of a new legal risk.  In Alonzo v. Menholt,1 the Minnesota Supreme Court recognized a claim for the negligent selection of an independent contractor.  Companies operating in Minnesota might be held responsible for inadequately screening their independent contractors or their

A new Minnesota law taking effect on July 1, 2024, will ban the use of nonsolicitation agreements by staffing agencies and other service providers to prevent their customers, orthe companies that contract for the staffing agency’s services, from soliciting or hiring the staffing agency’s employees who provide the contracted temporary

May 20, 2024, marked the end of the legislative session for yet another historic and busy year for Minnesota’s legislature. Amidst endless shouting, a sprawling 1,400-plus-page omnibus bill, and ethical complaints, the aftermath of the legislative session’s chaotic end left Minnesotans in a frenzy, deciphering which specific bills passed.

Minnesota enacted an omnibus bill that includes a host of new labor and employment law changes. Provisions of the bill address pay transparency, earned sick and safe time and paid family leave, independent contractor classification, pregnancy leave rights, drug testing, non-solicitation agreements, minimum wage and tip laws, among others.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed bills amending the Earned Sick and Safe Time Act and the Paid Family Leave Law. Many of amendments provide new and expanded definitions of terms. Other amendments create new penalties and appeals procedures. Rates of pay and premium rates are also addressed.

Minnesota’s legislature was busy providing new rules and obligations for employers. In addition to the changes in the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST), Paid Family and Medical Leave, and pay transparency laws (which we discuss in separate articles), there were more amendments and additions employers should be aware of.

Minnesota will amend its drug testing law to permit oral fluid testing for drugs, cannabis and alcohol, effective August 1, 2024.

The Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act (“DATWA”) currently requires employers who conduct drug and alcohol testing to use specific certified laboratories and to permit confirmatory re-testing

Governor Tim Walz has signed into law significant changes to Minnesota’s independent contractor and employment laws.  Effective July 1, all employers, as well as their owners, risk significantly increased penalties for misclassifying employees as independent contractors.  Construction industry employers, however, should be especially vigilant in ensuring their independent contractors are

In the homestretch of Minnesota’s 2024 legislative session, tension has mounted in St. Paul as state House and Senate committees scramble to secure enough votes to place their bills on Governor Tim Walz’s desk for signature. With multiple bills in play, legislators continue to engage in strategic omnibus bundling to

As the Minnesota Legislature enters the latter half of its 2023–2024 legislative session, the pressure is on to meet critical deadlines before adjournment on May 20, 2024. House and Senate committees are racing against the clock to push bills through for consideration by the April 19 deadline. With the fate