St. Paul, Minnesota and Bloomington, Minnesota have amended their sick and safe time ordinances to align with the state’s new sick and safe time law. Specific changes include the following:
- Employees may start using sick and safe time upon accrual, rather than having to wait 90 days;
- The definition of “family member” now includes the relatives of an employee’s spouse, any other individual related by blood or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship, as well as up to one individual annually designated by the employee;
- A new qualifying reason for leave: the inability to work or telework because the employee is: (i) prohibited from working due to health concerns related to the potential transmission of a communicable illness related to a public emergency; or (ii) seeking or awaiting the results of a diagnostic test for, or a medical diagnosis of, a communicable disease related to a public emergency and such employee has been exposed to a communicable disease or the employee’s employer has requested a test or diagnosis;
- Bloomington’s qualifying reasons for leave no longer includes the death of a family member;
- Employers may require reasonable documentation to substantiate the reason for leave when the employee uses leave for more than three consecutive days;
- St. Paul employers must provide notice of the ordinance to new employees upon hire and current employees by January 1, 2024 by:
- posting a copy of the notice at each location where Employees perform work and where the notice must be readily observed and easily reviewed by all Employees performing work;
- providing a paper or electronic copy of the notice to Employees; or
- a conspicuous posting in a web-based or app-based platform through which an employee performs work.
The new ordinances are effective January 1, 2024. Policy templates are available in the “Resources” section of our product. A policy template is also available for Minnesota’s new state-level sick and safe leave ordinance, also effective January 1, 2024.
