Sick Safe Leave Update

On April 29, 2019 the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that Minneapolis’ sick and safe leave ordinance can apply to employers not located within Minneapolis. Previously, the courts had limited the reach of the ordinance to employers resident in the city. This ruling will have a significant impact on companies that do business in the city of Minneapolis.

In 2016, Minneapolis enacted a law requiring any employer, regardless of location, to provide leave benefits to employees who work at least 80 hours per year within the city limits. See more about the ordinance from our previous post on the topic and from the city’s website. The ordinance was prohibited from applying to employers located outside the city limits by a previous court ruling. In the time between the two rulings, Minneapolis amended its ordinance to narrow its scope and the amended ordinance is what has now been deemed valid by the Court of Appeals.

The amended ordinance states that employees of non-resident companies will accrue leave only for time they actually work within the city boundaries and can redeem that time only for days on which they would be working within the city’s boundaries. This rule will require employers either 1) provide leave benefits as if they were resident in the city, or 2) track with detail the time each employee spends within Minneapolis’ city limits. For employees, it would require that they know in advance which days they will be working in Minneapolis in order to request sick-safe leave for foreseeable absences.

If your company has employees who work at least 80 hours per year within the city of Minneapolis, be sure to familiarize yourself with the ordinance and bring your company’s policies into compliance.