Earned Sick & Safe Time: St. Paul MN Differences

Continuing the wave of new rules and regulations related to paid leave in Minnesota, on January 8, 2024, the St. Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO) issued guidance on its interpretation of St. Paul’s Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) Ordinance.

St. Paul revised its ESST Ordinance in October 2023 to align with Minnesota’s ESST law, which went into effect January 1, 2024. The new guidance called “Final Rules” helps employers understand how the HREEO will enforce the recently revised St. Paul Ordinance.

Employers with employees in St. Paul should review the Final Reviews for guidance on a number of important topics including:

• When time employees spend travelling constitutes time worked for purposes of accruing ESST.
• Whether and when employees accrue and can use ESST for time spent on call.
• Appropriate procedures for frontloading ESST in lieu of allowing employee to accrue ESST.
• Using an existing PTO policy to satisfy ESST requirements.
• Determining the hourly ESST rate for employees paid by salary, commission or piece rate.
• Requesting documentation to support ESST leave requests.
• How employers may comply with the Ordinance by maintaining a general PTO policy.

Under both the Minnesota law and St. Paul Ordinance, employees accrue 1 hour of ESST for every 30 hours worked.

Employers, however, should pay careful attention to the distinctions between Minnesota’s ESST and St. Paul’s ESST. There are several differences between the two laws, including for example, whether employers can allow employees to accrue ESST for fractions of an hour.