We are less than a month away from the 1-year anniversary of when the Minneapolis and Saint Paul sick and safe time ordinances went into effect. Both cities have recently released a tracking spreadsheet available to employers to compute and track accrual and use of sick and safe time hours. Minneapolis employers can use this link and St. Paul employers can use this link to access the spreadsheets.  Minneapolis also updated their notice poster to include the minimum wage increase schedule. Employers should make sure to update their handbooks and workplace posters with the current version (found here).

For those of you keeping track of the Minneapolis ordinance, as I discussed most recently here, the Minneapolis ordinance has been the center of a legal dispute between business groups and the City of Minneapolis. However, we may finally have a resolution to the question I am most frequently asked, whether an employer must comply with the ordinance if they are not located in Minneapolis, or if they are located in Minneapolis, but do not have employees who work in Minneapolis. On May 9, 2018, the Minnesota District Court held that state law does not preempt the ordinance, but the amended ordinance still exceeds Minneapolis’ territorial authority due to the record keeping and administrative obligations placed on employers.

As a result of the court decision, businesses located outside of the geographic bounds of Minneapolis do not need to comply with the ordinance at this time (UPDATED 5-30-19 EMPLOYERS MUST COMPLY RETROACTIVE TO JULY 1, 2017). If you are unsure of whether your company is located within the geographic bounds check the city ward map found at here.