Like employers in every state, Minnesota employers must observe the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), allowing qualified workers to take unpaid leave for certain reasons. Once an employee’s FMLA leave is over, the worker has the right to be reinstated to their position.
Minnesota regulations also give workers extra leave rights, as explained below. Workers are privileged to the protection of all pertinent laws; if more than one law applies, the worker may use the most beneficial provisions.
What Are Federal FMLA Rights?
Workers in Minnesota who are qualified may take up to 12 weeks of leave for serious health conditions, bonding with a new child, or preparation for a family member’s military service. More additional leave is available for workers who need to care for a family member who was seriously injured on active military duty.
What Are Minnesota Family And Medical Leave Laws?
Several states, including Minnesota, give their residents coverage that supplements the benefits of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). Although the federal and state laws typically concentrate on the same subjects, they do not necessarily work as a unit.
For instance, a term (such as “serious health condition”) used in the FMLA and a state law may have distinct meanings. If you have any questions about terminology, a lawyer should be able to clarify your concerns.
Who Is Covered Under the Law?
Minnesota employers are subject to the FMLA if they have at least 50 workers for at least 20 weeks in the present or previous year.
Employees are eligible for FMLA leave if:
- They have worked for the business for at least a year
- They worked at least 1,250 hours during the last year, and
- They work at a location with at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius.
Do These Laws Cover My Employer?
Minnesota has widened the scope of employers covered by family and medical leave laws.
Your employer is covered if it falls within the FMLA’s employer guidelines or if it either:
- Employs 21 or more workers located at one or more worksite(s) and includes a corporation, partnership, association, nonprofit organization, group of persons, state, county, town, city, school district, or other governmental subdivision; or
- Functions as an entity with one or more workers for limited parental purposes (such as leave for school conferences and activities).
What Kind of Leave Am I Permitted Under Minnesota’s Laws?
You may obtain unpaid leave to take care of issues related to a birth, adoption, or sick child. Minnesota’s provision regarding employees’ leave time is comparable to federal law.
Minnesota laws regulating leave time include the following information:
- There is no requirement that spouses share leave;
- Personal sick leave may be used to attend to your child for a reasonable time; and
- Up to six weeks can be taken for a birth or adoption unless you and your employer agree to a longer period.
How Much Leave Is Available?
Minnesota workers may take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for a serious health condition, bonding with a new child, or qualifying necessities. This leave is open every 12 months, as long as the worker meets the eligibility conditions explained above.
Workers may take up to 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period for military caregiver leave. However, this is a per-injury, per-service member entitlement. Unless the same family member is injured again or another family member suffers an injury while on active duty, an employee may not take extra leave for this pursuit.
What Are Leave and Reinstatement Rights?
Workers can continue their health insurance while on leave at the same cost they must pay while working. FMLA leave is unpaid, but workers may be permitted (or required) to use their accrued paid leave during FMLA leave.
When an employee’s FMLA leave stops, the worker is authorized to be reinstated to the same or an equivalent position, with a few exceptions.
More On Minnesota Family and Medical Leave Laws
In addition to the rights granted by the FMLA, Minnesota workers have the right, under state law, to take time off for family and medical causes.
Minnesota Family and Medical Leave
Employers with at least 21 workers must permit qualified employees to take up to twelve weeks off for prenatal care, pregnancy, childbirth, and bonding with a new child. Bonding leave is open to biological and adoptive parents but must be taken within 12 months of the child’s birth or adoption.
To be qualified for leave, the worker must have worked at least half-time for the employer for 12 months before the request for leave.
How Does Military Family Leave Work in Minnesota?
All employers must give time off to qualified workers who have a grandparent, parent, legal guardian, sibling, child, grandchild, spouse, or fiancé on active duty in these occurrences:
- Employees are allowed to take time off to attend a send-off or homecoming ceremony for the family member. Workers may take only the time required for the ceremony, up to one day per calendar year.
- Workers may take up to ten days off if a family member is wounded or killed in active military service.
What Is Minnesota Small Necessities Law?
Employers with at least two workers must provide qualified employees up to 16 hours of unpaid leave in any 12-month period to attend school conferences or other school-related activities for the employee’s child if they cannot be rescheduled outside of work.
Employers with 20 or more workers must deliver up to 40 hours of paid leave to donate bone marrow.
What Are the Reasons for Leave?
FMLA leave is available if an employee needs time off to:
- Recover from a serious health condition
- Care for a family member with a serious health condition
- Bond with a new child
- Handle qualifying necessities emerging out of a family member’s military service, or
- Care for a family member who suffered a serious injury during active duty in the military.
How Should I Request My Leave?
Under Minnesota statute, your employer may embrace appropriate policies overseeing the timing of requests for unpaid birth or adoption leave. Other state laws relating to leave requests are similar to the standards set in the FMLA.
What Happens When I Return From Leave?
If you have taken birth or adoption leave, you are allowed to return to your former position or to a position of comparative duties, hours, and pay. Similarly, regardless of the type of leave you have taken, you are mandated to inform your employer at least two weeks in advance if you are returning to work after taking leave for longer than one month.
Can My Pregnancy or Parental Leave Count Against FMLA Leave?
You only have a privilege of 12 weeks of leave total for birth or adoption of a child and any pregnancy-related leave, even if you qualify for both FMLA and pregnancy or parental leave.
The federal Family Medical Leave Act FMLA demands employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in connection with the birth or adoption of a child or for a severe health condition. You may be permitted further leave under FMLA for a non-pregnancy-related serious health condition. If you have questions about FMLA, contact the U.S. Department of Labor.
Do I Need A Minnesota Employment Lawyer?
A labor and employment lawyer in Minnesota can discuss with you the differences between federal and Minnesota laws about family and medical leave. If you feel that your employer has mistreated you, an attorney can also help you determine possible courses of action.
