Minnesota is the latest state to offer its employees paid leave, joining 14 other states (including Delaware, New York, and Connecticut) as well as the District of Columbia.
Minnesota Paid Leave began on January 1, 2026. The program is available to all Minnesota employees, whether their employers are based in the state or not.
If you employ people in Minnesota, you need to know what types of leave they’re entitled to, and how to stay compliant. Keep reading to learn more.
Minnesota Paid Leave: what it is and how it works
Administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota Paid Leave provides weekly benefit payments and job protection to full-time, part-time, and temporary workers when they need to take a leave of absence from work.
There are five types of leave Minnesota employees can take:
Medical leave to manage a serious personal health condition
Bonding leave to bond with a child after birth, adoption, or foster placement
Caring leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition
Safety leave to respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking (for an employee or their family member)
Military family leave to support a family member called to active duty
Employees in Minnesota can take 12 weeks of family leave and 12 weeks of medical leave, but no more than 20 weeks total in a year. So an employee who gives birth, for example, could take eight weeks of medical leave then 12 weeks of bonding leave, but not 12 weeks of each.
How much money do employees get on leave?
Minnesota Paid Leave covers 55-90% of an employee’s usual wages, depending on what they earn. However, the state sets a maximum weekly benefit every year; in 2026, it’s $1,423 per week.
You can estimate your employees’ weekly payments using Minnesota’s handy calculator.
Who qualifies for MN Paid Leave?
The North Star State has an inclusive leave policy, so almost every type of employee in Minnesota—including full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers—qualifies for paid leave.
Employees just need to have earned $3,900 in Minnesota in the past year (from one job or multiple jobs) to receive leave payments.
Can self-employed people take MN Paid Leave?
If you’re self-employed in Minnesota, you can take paid leave as long as you opt into the program. To be eligible, you need to:
Be a resident of Minnesota
Be self-employed (the state’s definition includes independent contractors, gig workers, sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, and general partners in a partnership)
Earn at least 5.3% of the state average annual wage in net earnings (in 2026, that’s $3,900)
To receive weekly leave benefits, you need to pay quarterly contributions at the year’s premium rate and remain enrolled in the program for two full years. Learn how to opt into the program and when to apply for coverage here.
How is MN Paid Leave funded?
Like most state leave programs, Minnesota funds paid leave through employer and employee contributions. In 2026, the premium rate is 0.88%, so most employers are required to remit 0.88% of their employees’ wages every quarter.
However, you can require your employees to contribute up to 0.44% of the amount themselves, leaving you to cover the rest. Minnesota sets a new annual rate by July 31 every year, but the law caps the rate at 1.1%.
MN Paid Leave contribution rates in 2026
Total contribution amount | Employee portion | Employer portion | |
Small employer rate (employers with 1-30 workers who meet the wage requirements*) | 0.66% | 0.44% | 0.22% |
Regular employer rate (employers with 31+ workers) | 0.88% | 0.44% | 0.44% |
*To qualify as a small employer, employers have to pay employees an average wage of no more than 150% of the statewide average wage, which is currently $27,745.88 per quarter.
Estimate your premiums with Minnesota’s calculator here.
Does Minnesota offer other types of employee leave?
In Minnesota, employers are required to provide employees with earned sick and safe time (ESST). Employees can use the time to take personal sick days, care for a sick family member, care for their kids during unexpected school or daycare closures, make funeral arrangements, or get help if they (or their family members) experience domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking.
All employees who work at least 80 hours in a year for a single employer can earn ESST. Employees accrue one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours they work, up to 48 total hours of ESST each year.
How does Minnesota Paid Leave work alongside federal leave?
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), enacted into federal law in 1993, gives eligible employees unpaid, job-protected leave, while MN Paid Leave gives eligible employees—you guessed it—paid, job-protected leave.
Another difference is that MN Paid Leave is available to almost all workers in the state, while FMLA leave is only accessible to certain people. The law only applies to employers with 50 or more employees working in a 75-mile radius; plus, FMLA has much stricter eligibility requirements.
If you’re a covered employer under FMLA, meaning you have at least 50 employees working nearby, it’s possible some of them might qualify for FMLA leave and MN Paid Leave. If that’s the case, they can’t take both types of leave one after another; the leaves overlap. And your employees will get whichever protections are strongest.
MN Paid Leave vs FMLA leave
Minnesota Paid Leave | FMLA leave | |
Qualifying reasons | Bonding with a new child; managing a serious personal health condition; caring for a family member who has a serious health condition; responding to or supporting a loved one experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; supporting a military family member called to active duty | Bonding with a new child; managing a serious personal health condition; caring for a family member who has a serious health condition; managing affairs before or during a family member’s military deployment |
Eligibility requirements | Earn at least $3,900 in the state of Minnesota during the past 12 months | Meet one qualifying reason; have worked for employer for at least one year; have over 1,250 hours of service in the past year; employer has at least 50 employees who work within a 75-mile radius |
Job protection | Yes | Yes |
Length of leave | Up to 20 weeks a year | Up to 12 weeks a year |
Payment | 55-90% of usual weekly wages | Unpaid |
Health benefits | Yes, employers are required to continue providing health benefits to employees on MN Paid Leave | Yes, employers are required to continue providing health benefits to employees on FMLA leave |
What are the employer’s responsibilities under MN Paid Leave?
If you employ even one person in Minnesota, you’re responsible for participating in the state’s leave program. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Tell employees about MN Paid Leave
It’s up to you to notify employees about their rights and protections under MN Paid Leave. Minnesota asks employers to do two things:
Hang an MN Paid Leave poster in a prominent spot in your workplace. Print it in English and any other primary languages spoken by at least five of your employees.
Send a written notice to new employees within 30 days of hire, and ask them to sign it acknowledging that they’ve received the information. You don’t have to do anything with this document; just keep it for your records. (You should have sent written notices to your existing employees by December 1, 2025, before the program officially kicked off.)
Both the poster and written notice should include general information about the state’s leave program, including:
Which types of leave are allowed
How many weeks employees can take leave
Employee and employer contribution amounts
Weekly payment benefits
An employee’s right to job protection and continued health insurance
Details on how to apply for MN Paid Leave benefits
Contact information to make a complaint
You can download the official leave poster and sample written notice in Minnesota’s employer toolkit.
You also need to post a workplace notice for FMLA leave if you’re a covered employer, and prepare to give employees a Rights and Responsibilities Notice and Designation Notice if they end up requesting FMLA leave.
2. Remit quarterly payroll contributions
Depending on the size of your workforce, you’re responsible for remitting up to 0.88% of your employees’ wages every quarter (that’s the 2026 rate; always check the year’s current rate). You’ll pay a portion as an employer, and also withhold employee contributions.
You can submit payments and report wage details through your employer account at iu.mn.gov. The due dates are April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31.
3. Review employees’ leave applications
Your employees are responsible for giving you 30 days of notice before applying for leave whenever possible (of course, exceptions apply for emergencies and unexpected health situations).
When an employee applies for leave, the state will send you a notification to review their leave application. You’re not there to approve or deny an employee’s request for leave—just to confirm details like their contact info, work schedule, and tentative leave dates. You have seven calendar days to review the application on your employer account at paidleave.mn.gov.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to reviewing a leave application.
4. Maintain health insurance and hold your employee’s position
You’re legally required to keep paying the employer portion of your employees’ health insurance premiums and restore employees to their jobs when they return from leave.
5. Set up a system to maintain your paperwork
You won’t necessarily need to comb through old documents to certify an employee’s leave, but it’s still good practice to hold onto all your payroll and personnel records for three to four years. Save your:
Employment contracts
Payroll records
Signed acknowledgments of written leave notices
Employee leave requests
Copies of employee leave applications
Copies of leave certification forms
Documentation of leave start and end dates
What will MN Paid Leave cost my business?
It depends on the size of your workforce, but in general, MN Paid Leave racks up a fairly small bill considering what it provides to employees. Remember, if you have:
1-30 employees (and meet the wage requirements), you’ll pay 0.22% of your employees’ wages
31+ employees, you’ll pay 0.44% of your employees’ wages
Depending on how many employees you have and how much you compensate them, your paid leave contributions could cost you anywhere from a few thousand dollars a year to over $100,000. Estimate your premiums here.
Related: See how much employee benefits cost employers.
The option to top up
If you want to improve upon the state’s leave benefits, you can top up your employees’ wages so they get 100% of their usual weekly pay, instead of just 55-90%. Another option is to provide extra vacation and sick time, and allow employees to use that to either extend their leave or make up the difference between their state payments and typical wages.
Giving your employees extra financial security and peace of mind during leave can go a long way toward bettering their personal well-being and fostering loyalty to your business.
Do I need to change my company’s leave policy?
If you haven’t updated your leave policy since MN Paid Leave began, it’s time to get on it. Here’s a helpful policy template you can customize for your workplace. As you draft a new policy or review your current one, look out for areas where you can improve the language—to make it clearer, for example, or easier to digest.
Save these Minnesota business guides
Want extra employer resources for everything from hiring to applying for financing in the Land of 10,000 Lakes? We have you covered:
