Highlights

• Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry has enacted numerous rules interpreting Minnesota’s earned sick and safe time (ESST) requirements.
• Topics covered include accrual, eligibility, usage, and documentation.
• Employers should review their ESST program and policies to ensure they are compliant.

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry adopted a series of rules, effective July 6, 2026, interpreting Minnesota’s ESST statute. The rules, available in “Adopted permanent rules relating to earned sick and safe time,” do not change the statute but provide interpretive details that may affect how an employer administers ESST. The main points of the rules are summarized in this update but, for detailed and situation-specific analysis, employers should consult employment counsel.

Eligibility

• Employees are eligible for ESST if they are anticipated to perform work for at least 80 hours in a year for an employer in Minnesota. In determining who is anticipated to work at least 80 hours in a year, the employer must, at a minimum, make a good faith evaluation of the employee’s anticipated work schedule and location.

• The default accrual year for ESST is the calendar year. If an employer wants to use a different accrual year, it must be clearly communicated to employees, in writing. Any change to the start and end dates of the accrual year must not negatively affect any employee’s ability to accrue ESST.
• Employers who frontload ESST in accordance with the statute...

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