MN Employee Notice and Wage Theft Changes
Effective July 1, Minnesota’s new Wage Theft Law will require employers to provide notices to employees upon employment, provide additional information on earnings statements, and keep additional employee records. Beginning August 1, the law creates increased violation penalties for noncompliance and expands the Department of Labor and Industry’s and Attorney General’s authority to enforce it. Important details regarding changes to the Wage Theft Law are outlined below.
Employee Notice
The new Wage Theft Law requires employers to provide employees, at the start of their employment, a written notice with information about their employment status and terms of employment. Employers may use the state-provided form, which can be found here, or create their own form. The notice must contain the required information as well as a statement in multiple languages informing employees of their right to request a notice in another language. A signed copy of the form must be kept on file by the company.
Earnings Statement Requirements
Minnesota wage law already requires earnings statements to include information about wages paid, hours worked, deductions made, and benefits accrued by employees. These statements must be provided to employees at the end of each pay period through written or electronic means. Starting July 1, employers will need to provide the following additional information on employees’ earnings statements:
-Employee rate or rates of pay and basis thereof, including whether the employee is paid by the hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission, or other method
-Allowances claimed for permitted meals and lodging
-Employer’s telephone contact
-Physical address of employer’s main office or principal place of business and a mailing address, if different.
Recordkeeping Requirements
In addition to the various records Minnesota employers are required to keep, the new Wage Theft Law requires employers to record the following:
-Each employee’s hours worked each day and workweek, including, for all employees paid at piece rate, the number of pieces completed at each piece rate.
-A list of personnel policies with brief descriptions of each policy that were provided to each employee. The list must include the date the policies were given to the employee.
-A copy of the new required notice, signed by the employee, as well as any written changes to the notice that were provided to the employee.
Minnesota law requires employers to maintain employee records for three years either in the workplace or in a manner that permits compliance with the commissioner’s demand within 72 hours. If employee records provide insufficient information to determine back wages due, the commissioner may make a determination of wages based on available evidence.
Looking for more information?
A comprehensive list of changes to Minnesota’s Wage Theft Law can be found here.
Additional resources for Minnesota employers can be found here.