Five Minnesota Senators submitted legislation on Monday calling for more paid sick days and expanded pregnancy coverage for Minnesota employees.
Senators Sandra Pappas, Thomas Bakk, Matt Schmit, Tom Saxhaug and Kevin Dahle introduced Senate File 481 on Monday in hopes of expanding sick and leave time for Minnesotans. Additionally, the proposal would increase civil penalties for employers found in violation of the new law.
New Law
If the proposal becomes law, Minnesota would join a handful of states who require employers to provide employees with paid sick leave. States like Connecticut and Massachusetts have similar laws already in place, but they only apply to companies with at least 50 and 11 employees, respectively. The Minnesota law would require all employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave, regardless of the size of their company. This would greatly decrease the number of people that are in between, or without jobs that could be claiming on income insurance or something like this Long term disability insurance as another example, instead, the new law will make it so the company pays their employees the loss of personal income. Companies that already offer paid time off may not need to revise their policies, but they will need to ensure they are up to par with the minimum requirements set forth in the proposed law.
As the bill reads:
Each employee who has performed at least 680 hours of work for the employer or who has worked for that employer for at least 17 weeks, would accrue a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked for that employer.
Employees working for employers with 21 or more employees would not accrue more than 72 hours of paid sick leave in a calendar year, unless the employer agreed to a higher amount.
Employees working for employers with less than 21 employees would not accrue more than 40 hours of paid sick leave in a calendar year, unless the employer agreed to a higher amount.
A full list of all the conditions set forth in the proposed law can be seen here.
Pregnancy and Leave Law
The bill would also affect parenting leave laws, especially for smaller employers. Under the current law, companies with fewer than 21 employees are not subject to state pregnancy and parenting leave laws. The new law would expand coverage to any Minnesota company with at least one employee.
The proposal would also allow employees to get parenting leave earlier than before. The current law requires that a person be employed at a company for at least a year and to have worked at an average number of hours equivalent to no less than half of what a full time employee works. The new law would allow employees to seek parenting leave after 17 weeks of employment or 680 hours of work.
Related source: JD Supra
