On January 1, 2026, eligible employees (including those working 50% or more of their time in Minnesota who have earned at least $3,700 in the last 12 months) will be entitled to job protections and partial wage replacement under Minnesota Paid Leave Law (“PLL”).

PLL eligible uses fall into two general categories:

(1) leave for the employee’s own serious health condition (“medical” leave), or

(2) leave for family care, bonding, safety, or a qualifying exigency (“family” leave).

Employees will be allowed to take 12 weeks of paid leave each year for a serious health condition and an additional 12 weeks of paid leave per year for other qualifying reasons. An employee’s total PLL per year will be capped at 20 weeks. PLL is funded through premiums that are split between employers (at least 50% for employers with 30 or more employees) and employees. Employers continue to have several considerations while gearing up to prepare for PLL.

Employers are allowed to participate in the state PLL plan or get their own plan that meets or exceeds coverage offered in the state plan, which must be approved by the state through its review process. These “equivalent plans” include either an insurance carrier plan or self-insured plan. Employers approved for an equivalent plan will not pay premiums to the state but will still need to submit wage detail reports to the state each quarter. Additionally, an approved equivalent plan can cover both medical or family leave, or only one leave type. Employers who offer an equivalent plan for only one type of leave must pay premiums and participate in the state’s plan to provide coverage for the other type.

An insurance carrier plan is sold by a private insurance carrier to meet the requirements of PLL. The state of Minnesota continues to work to certify insurance carrier plans that meet requirements, but a preliminary list has been established. Employers may also choose to reach out to their short- or long-term disability insurance carriers, if applicable, to inquire about PLL equivalent plans offered.

A self-insured plan is a type of equivalent plan where an employer manages paid leave requests and payments to employees on leave themselves. Employers with self-insured plans must obtain a surety bond to ensure they can make payments to employees who take leave. If this is an option they would like to pursue, employers will need to work with a surety company authorized to do business in Minnesota and subsequently obtain a surety bond with a value equal to the total annual premiums under the state plan.

An equivalent plan may be an attractive option for an employer based on cost considerations and given the fact that an employer has the flexibility to choose the benefit year for use of PLL. The state plan requires the benefit year to be based on a calendar year; a private plan may provide for additional flexibility beyond choosing a calendar year including for any fixed 12-month period, the 12-month period measured forward from an employee’s first day of leave taken, or the rolling 12-month period measured backward from an employee’s first day of leave taken.

While employees can begin taking leave under PLL on January 1, employers must also keep in mind the December 1, 2025, deadline for providing notice to employees. Employers must also be aware that there are different poster and notice requirements if they choose an equivalent plan or the state PLL plan.

The notice requirements include hanging a poster prepared by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (“DEED”) in a conspicuous place (with other workplace posters) and providing a notice to employees regarding an explanation of benefits, premium deductions made by the employer, and other relevant information as required by PLL. Employers must receive a written or electronic acknowledgment from employees that they received this information not more than 30 days from the beginning date of employment or by December 1, 2025, whichever is later. DEED has recently published both the poster and notice templates for employers using an equivalent plan or the state PLL plan. While an employer is not required to use DEED’s notice template, this may be a more efficient way to provide this information to employees instead of creating an organization-specific notice.

In addition to complying with the required notices under law, employers should consider updating their policies and employee handbooks, as applicable, to account for federal and Minnesota leaves that run concurrently with PLL, whether employees are allowed to “top off” their partial wage replacement with paid time off or sick leave, to define intermittent use of intermittent leave and notice periods, and to review employer-provided leave or wage replacement benefits that may be replaced by PLL.

Kaitlyn Schammel is a Labor & Employment attorney at Eckberg Lammers, P.C. in Stillwater, Minnesota where she focuses her practice on counseling employers, both businesses and municipalities, on how to manage the complex web of laws and regulations to support their entities’ human resource needs within labor and employment law.