Minnesota’s Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) Act took effect January 1, 2024. The ESST requires employers to provide eligible employees with up to 48 hours of ESST in a year. Eligible employees may use ESST for one’s own illness, care for a family member with an illness, absence due to domestic abuse, or closure of business or school due to weather or public emergency.
Governor Walz signed amendments to the Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) Act which took effect May 24, 2024. Following is a brief summary of the amendments.
Definition of Eligible employee
Eligible employee is any individual who performs work for at least 80 hours a year within Minnesota. The amendments clarify that an individual who is anticipated to work at least 80 hours in a year is an eligible employee.
Air carrier flight deck or cabin crew members were not considered eligible employees. The amendments remove air carrier flight deck or cabin crew members from excluded individuals and adds volunteer firefighters, state elected officials and temporary farm workers to the list.
Use of leave
The amendments add bereavement leave to the list of reasons an employee may use ESST.
Documentation
Employers are allowed to request reasonable documentation for the use of ESST for more than 3 consecutive days. According to the amendments, reasonable documentation can be a written statement provided by the employee.
Increments of Use
An employer must allow an employee to use leave in the smallest amount of time tracked by the employer’s payroll system.
The amendments provide that an employer is not required to allow ESST use in less than 15-minute increments and cannot require use in more than four-hour increments.
Earnings Statement
The amendments remove the requirement to provide information about an employee’s ESST hours available for use and used during the pay period on each paycheck. Instead, employers can choose a reasonable system for providing this information at the end of each pay period, including electronically.
More Generous Policies
Beginning January 1, 2025, if an employer provides employees with paid time off (PTO) that is more than the amount required under the ESST law, the additional PTO must meet the same requirements as the ESST provides regarding hours, notice, documentation, and anti-retaliation.
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