Get Ready to Roll

Sarah Dahl, a benefits consultant with Marsh McLennan Agency, has shared her analysis of the new paid leave requirements for Minnesota’s businesses at Enterprise Minnesota Peer Council meetings in recent weeks. Her expert and enlightening insight has been so helpful to participants that we included a feature in the upcoming issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine outlining her thoughts and suggestions for companies preparing for the fast-approaching changes.

Key takeaways from Dahl’s advice include:

• Minnesota Paid Leave regulations require all employers to provide paid time away for a variety of reasons. Exceptions include federal employees, certain seasonal workers in the hospitality industry, independent contractors, and self-employed people.
• Full and part-time employees will have two buckets of leave available for each 52-week benefit year up to 20 weeks.
• One bucket provides 12 weeks for their own serious health condition, such as cancer, surgery, or childbirth. Another bucket covers 12 weeks for bonding time with a new child, caring for a seriously ill family member, safety leave, or to support a military family member who is deployed.
• Both buckets require a health care provider or authorized professional to certify the need for the leave and the amount of time off required. Because questions surround the finer details of implementing the paid leave program, employers should partner with their benefits broker or employment law attorney to walk them through the options.
• Manufacturers will also need to determine how Minnesota Paid Leave fits into other leave programs, including the state’s new Earned Sick and Safe Time program, short-term disability, and federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). First steps for manufacturers involve selecting the structure for their programs. Alternatives include a public option funded through a payroll tax; private plans that enable companies to pay premiums to insurance companies that administer claims and benefits; and self-funded private plans.
• Businesses with 30 or fewer employees might be eligible for assistance to cover the cost of hiring temporary workers or increasing existing workers’ wages.
• Employees are eligible if they have earned 5.3% of the state’s average annual wage — roughly $3,800 total — from any Minnesota employer in the four quarters prior to their leave.
• Once the requirements take effect, manufacturers need to determine how to keep operations running if employees take significant time off. They also need to continue group insurance coverage for employees who are on leave.

Dahl says employers should not count on the Minnesota Legislature pulling the plug on this program before it gets off the ground, although it might tweak some aspects during the current session.

Abbey Hellickson, one of our business growth consultants, says that employers should ensure that employees understand the terms of Minnesota Paid Leave. They will need to know what types of leaves are covered, how they initiate access to the program, and how Minnesota Paid Leave functions with other federal programs like FMLA, she says.

“The big thing is to plan now,” Hellickson says. “Be proactive and figure out what your structure will be so that in 2026 you are ready to roll.”

To read more about Minnesota Paid Leave, check out the upcoming issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine, set to be published later this month.

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