Minnesota Department of Labor Clarifies Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) Rules

On July 6, 2026, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry's new administrative rules interpreting Minnesota's Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) law officially took effect. ESST, which became effective on January 1, 2024, requires most Minnesota employers to provide eligible employees with paid time off for qualifying sick and safe time purposes. The new administrative rules do not change the law itself but provide important clarifications on how employers should administer ESST policies and comply with the statute.

Key Clarifications for Employers

• Accrual Year Defined: The statute defines a “year” as a regular and consecutive 12-month period that is clearly communicated to each employee. Employers may designate any consecutive 12-month accrual year for ESST, provided it is clearly communicated to employees. If the accrual year is not clearly defined and communicated, the default accrual year is the calendar year. Employers must communicate the accrual year to an employee at the start of their employment in the required ESST notice.

• Changing the Accrual Year: Employers may change their ESST accrual year so long as they provide employees with advance written notice and the change does not negatively impact an employee’s ability to accrue ESST.

• Changing from Accrual to Frontloading: Employers may switch between the accrual and frontloading methods of providing ESST by giving employees written notice. Any change becomes effective at the beginning of the next accrual year.

• Crediting ESST to Employee Under Accrual Plans: For employers who accrue rather than frontload ESST, the rules clarify when accrual is calculated, how ESST accrues and advances on accrual.

  • Employers using the accrual method must credit ESST to the employee based on hours worked during a pay period no later than the payday for that pay period.

  • Employers are not required to credit ESST in fractional-hour increments. Instead, employers may credit only whole hours, provided that any remaining accrued time carries forward so employees ultimately receive at least 1 hour of ESST for every 30 hours worked. (For example, if an employee works 80 hours in a pay period, the employer would be required to credit 2 hours of ESST, not 2.67 hours, but the remaining 20 hours worked (.67 hours of ESST) must roll forward to be credited toward accrual for the next pay period.)

  • If an employer using the accrual method advances ESST to an employee based on projected hours for the remainder of a year (this is often used by employers who frontload ESST but do not want to frontload the full 48 or 80 hours for the first partial year of employment), if the employer undercalculates how much the employee would work, it must provide additional ESST to make up the difference (but only up to the statutory requirements of at least 48 hours). This “top off” must occur within 15 calendar days of the employee’s actual work hours exceeding their anticipated work hours in the accrual year.

• No Forced Use: Employers cannot require employees to use ESST. However, if the employee is absent for an ESST qualifying purpose and is not using ESST, the absence is not protected.

• Attendance Bonuses and Other Incentives: Employers may deny attendance-based bonuses or similar incentives when an employee fails to satisfy the applicable performance criteria because of ESST use, so long as employees who take ESST are treated the same as employees taking comparable forms of leave.

• Misuse: The rules clarify a number of items related to misuse of ESST:

  • Misuse Defined and Not Protected: The rules clarify that misuse occurs when ESST is used for a purpose not authorized by the statute. They further provide that misuse of ESST is not subject to the protections of ESST law and that employees may be disciplined for misuse of ESST.

  • Documentation Exception: Under the statute, an employer cannot request that an employee provide documentation to support an absence for ESST qualifying purposes (when ESST is being used) unless the employee has been absent for more than two consecutive shifts. The new rules create an exception to this general rule that allows the employer to request documentation earlier if there is a “pattern or clear instance of suspected misuse.” The rules provide several examples of patterns or instances of suspected misuse.

  • No Denial of Future Requests Based on Misuse: Employers may not deny future qualifying ESST requests based solely on prior misuse or suspicion that the employee may misuse ESST.

• More Generous Leave/Time Off Policies: When an employer provides PTO, vacation, sick time or other paid time off that can be used for personal injury or illness, and which exceeds the minimum ESST requirements, ESST protection applies to the more generous leave bank. However, the rules clarify that ESST protections apply to that time off only when it is used for an ESST-qualifying purpose. Additionally, the rules clarify that Minnesota Paid Leave is a “salary continuation benefit” that is not subject to the more generous leave/time off policy requirements.

Employers should determine whether the rules affect their ESST or other paid time off policies and practices. These rules and clarifications may warrant updates to employee handbooks, leave or time off policies, payroll practices, and supervisor training to ensure compliance with Minnesota law. If you have questions about how these new rules affect your workplace or would like assistance reviewing or updating your ESST policy and notices, please contact our employment law team.