Minnesota Paid Leave Starting in 2026

Minnesota Paid Leave (MPL) is a new program administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Effective January 1, 2026, MPL will provide Minnesota employees with paid time off when a serious health condition prevents them from working, if they need time to care for a family member or a new child, for specific military-related events, or for certain personal safety issues.

PERA reviews existing statutes to determine how new benefits are addressed. Eligible salary for PERA contributions is determined by Minn. Stat. § 353.01, subd. 10 and discussed in Chapter 5 of PERA’s Employer Manual. These resources predate MPL, as well as the prior Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) law and COVID-era bonus pay, but the overall concepts apply and provide guidance for each situation.

• According to the Minnesota Paid Leave website and the Frequently Asked Questions page, the MPL benefit is paid directly by the State to employees and is therefore NOT PERA-eligible salary. The website has not provided a calculation for benefit amounts yet.
• Employers may offer the use of paid time off as “supplemental benefits” to allow the employee to receive up to full salary continuation during their leave. This salary is only PERA-eligible if it is medical leave and the employer-paid benefits are at least 50% of the employee’s regular earnings. 

Employer Action for Minnesota Paid Leave

Report MPL absences as authorized leaves on your Annual Leave Report if they result in any unpaid hours on your employer payroll. For PERA purposes, treat MPL payments as you would short or long-term disability payments—which are not PERA-eligible salary. There is an Annual Leave Q&A publication on our website that supplements the “Leave Reporting” webinar. Review Section B – What to Report and pay close attention to questions B1–B7.  

Our Employer Education team will plan an updated webinar for 2025 that includes Earned Safe and Sick Time (ESST) and MPL presentation topics.  

Note: This article is from the Winter 2024 employer newsletter.