In June 2022, Bloomington enacted an Earned Sick and Safe Time Ordinance that will take effect on July 1, 2023, see prior Benefit Beat article here. Bloomington’s ordinance requires employers employing 5 or more employees to provide up to 48 hours of sick and safe leave. Leave can be taken to attend to one’s own needs, for the needs of a family member, to obtain medical, victim advocacy or other legal services that may be needed for domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking, or due to closure of a place of business, school or day care due to a public health emergency or inclement weather.

Bloomington Mayor Tim Busse signed amendments to the Earned Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance which will also take effect on July 1, 2023 and are briefly summarized below.

Under the original ordinance, an employer was to provide an employee’s current accrued and used leave amounts upon request. The amendment removes the “upon request” language and requires that the current accrued and used leave amounts are included on an employee’s paystub.

The original ordinance included fines of between $250 and $1,000 for violations. The amendments establish a fine schedule which details a specific fine for specific violations including first-time violations and retaliation.

St. Paul’s Earned Sick and Safe Time Ordinance has been in effect since 2017, see prior Benefit Beat article here. St. Paul’s ordinance requires employers employing one or more employees to provide up to 48 hours of sick and safe leave per year. Leave can be taken to attend to one’s own needs, for the needs of a family member, to obtain medical, victim advocacy or other legal services that may be needed for domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking, or due to closure of a place of business, school or day care due to a public health emergency or inclement weather.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter signed into law amendments to the Earned Sick and Safe Time Ordinance which took effect February 24, 2023 and are summarized below.

Geographic location

The original ordinance allowed employees to accrue sick and safe leave for the hours worked in St. Paul if the employer had a physical location in St. Paul. The amendments clarify that employees accrue leave on hours worked in the geographic boundaries of St. Paul regardless of whether the employer has a physical location in St. Paul.

Definition of year

Previously, a year was defined as any consecutive 12-month period of time as determined by an employer. The amendments define year as a regular and consecutive 12-month period, either calendar or fiscal, as determined by the employer. Employers must communicate to employees whether calendar or fiscal year is being used.

Accrual and carry over or frontloading

Under the ordinance, employers must either allow employees to accrue 1 hour of leave for every 30 hours worked up to 48 hours in a year and allow carryover of up to 80 hours or frontload the full amount of leave at the beginning of each year.

Under the amendments, an employer must establish the method of compliance either through accrual and carry over or frontloading at the beginning of the measurement year, and employers may not change the method until the next year. If the employer moves from frontloading to accrual, the employer must then carry over any unused portion of the frontloaded leave.

Additionally, the amendments provide that an employee can only carryover accrued unused time after the employee has worked for the employer in the geographic boundaries of the city for more than one year.

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