Bloomington Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Leave (ESSL)
The city of Bloomington, Minnesota has enacted a new Earned Sick and Safe Leave (ESSL) policy.
BACKGROUND
To ensure that individuals employed in Bloomington can address their health needs and those of their families, the city has introduced a mandate for employers to provide a minimum level of sick and safe leave, which should also include time off for family care.
The Earned Sick and Safe Leave (ESSL) law will come into effect on July 1, 2023.
OVERVIEW OF ESSL
Under the earned sick and safe leave law in Bloomington, Minnesota, employers with five or more employees must compensate their employees at their regular rate of pay for scheduled work hours during which they use their accrued ESSL. However, you do not need to provide additional ESSL to your employees if you already provide ESSL under a paid time off policy or another paid leave policy that meets the ESSL accrual requirements or allow employees to use available leave hours for the same purposes and under the same conditions as ESSL.
Employees can begin to accrue ESSL once they work at least 80 hours in Bloomington within a calendar year. You as the employer can determine the consecutive 12-month period, which may be based on the employee’s first day of work. Employees accrue one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked, and earning statements must show the number of ESSL hours accrued and unused at the end of each pay period. You have the option to frontload ESSL as long as you provide 48 hours of leave in the first year and 80 hours of leave thereafter. Employees may accrue up to 48 hours of ESSL in one year and carry over up to 80 hours of unused ESSL from year to year. However, employees may only accrue up to 80 hours of unused ESSL unless you as the employer agree to a greater amount.
Employees may use accrued ESSL after 90 days of employment or beginning July 1, 2023, whichever is later. They may use ESSL for their own health, to care for a family member, or to seek counseling as a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking. ESSL also provides leave time in the event of workplace or school closures.
You can request that employees provide up to seven days' notice before using ESSL. In the case that the reason for using ESSL is unforeseeable, employees are encouraged to provide notification as soon as possible. If an employee uses ESSL for more than three consecutive days, you as the employer have the option may request reasonable documentation to verify the proper use of ESSL.
You must also post a Notice of Employee Rights in a location where employees can easily see it.
Next Steps
You may need to set up a new paid time off (PTO) plan and ensure that the earned and used ESSL hours are reflected on pay statements, depending on how the new law will affect your business. The following articles may be helpful in setting up a PTO plan and troubleshooting any issues that may arise: