Minnesota

The chapters that govern

Most of what a Minnesota employee needs is in a handful of chapters of the Minnesota Statutes. Each link goes to the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, which publishes the current text.

• Minn. Stat. ch. 177 — Labor Standards and Wages: minimum wage, overtime, breaks, and enforcement by the Department of Labor and Industry.
• Minn. Stat. ch. 181 — Employment: final paychecks, the Whistleblower Act (§§ 181.931–181.935), the Personnel Record Review and Access Act (§§ 181.960–181.966), the noncompete ban (§ 181.988).
• Minn. Stat. ch. 181A — Child Labor Standards Act: hours, occupations, and permits for minors.
• Minn. Stat. ch. 363A — Minnesota Human Rights Act: the Minnesota Human Rights Act — discrimination, harassment, reprisal, and the Department of Human Rights charge process.
• Minn. Stat. ch. 268 — Unemployment insurance: benefits, quit and discharge determinations, appeals.
• Minn. Stat. ch. 268B — Family and Medical Benefits: the paid family and medical benefit insurance program.
• Minn. Stat. ch. 176 — Workers' compensation: work injuries.

The federal statutes alongside them

Federal law sits alongside these and mostly does not displace them. Where a guide on this site describes a federal rule, it says so.

• Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 203 — wages and hours
• Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e — race, color, religion, sex, national origin
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 630 — age
• Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12111 — disability
• Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2611 — unpaid, job-protected leave

Four things that catch Minnesotans out

Minnesota's discrimination law covers employers the federal statutes do not

Minn. Stat. § 363A.03, subd. 16, defines an employer as

a person who has one or more employees.

The federal thresholds are fifteen employees for Title VII (42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b)) and the ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12111(5)(A)), twenty for the ADEA (29 U.S.C. § 630(b)), and fifty for the FMLA (29 U.S.C. § 2611(4)(A)(i)), each counted across twenty or more calendar weeks. A six-person Minnesota company is outside all four and inside chapter 363A.

Noncompetes signed since July 1, 2023, are void

Minn. Stat. § 181.988, subd. 2(a):

Any covenant not to compete contained in a contract or agreement is void and unenforceable

subject to sale-of-business and dissolution exceptions. Laws 2023, ch. 53, art. 6, § 1, made it "effective July 1, 2023, and applies to contracts and agreements entered into on or after that date." It does not reach nondisclosure or nonsolicitation agreements, which subd. 1(a) carves out, and its definition of employee includes independent contractors.

The break rules changed on January 1, 2026

Minn. Stat. § 177.254, subd. 1, now requires a meal break of at least 30 minutes at six or more consecutive hours; the prior text required "sufficient time to eat" at eight. Section 177.253, subd. 1, now sets a rest break of

at least 15 minutes or enough time to utilize the nearest convenient restroom, whichever is longer

within each four consecutive hours. Both gained a liquidated-damages remedy. Laws 2025, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 6, art. 5, §§ 1–5.

Your personnel file is free, in seven working days

Minn. Stat. § 181.961, subd. 2(a) and 2(d):

The employer may not charge a fee for the copy.

Guides

• Every Minnesota Employment Deadline in One Table — and Not One of Them Is the Same Number
• Minnesota's break rules got numbers on January 1, 2026 — and being salaried is not what makes you exempt from overtime
• A Minnesota Discrimination Claim Is Usually Lost on the Calendar, Not the Merits
• If you signed a Minnesota noncompete on or after July 1, 2023, it is void — and that does not touch your NDA
• Was My Firing Illegal? Minnesota's Honest Answer Is Usually No, and the Exceptions Are a Short, Specific List
• The Exit Meeting: Every Document Handed Across the Table Runs on Its Own Statute and Its Own Clock
• Minnesota's noncompete ban did not touch your NDA or your nonsolicit — and no Minnesota employment or civil-rights statute voids a settlement NDA about harassment
• Filing a Charge With the Department of Human Rights Does Not Hand Your Case to the Department
• Minnesota Gives You Fifteen Working Days to Demand the Reason You Were Fired — and the Duty Never Arises Unless You Ask in Writing
• Minnesota Puts Your Rate of Pay in a Signed Document at the Start of Employment — and Gives You Three Ways to Enforce It
• The 2024 Amendment Untethered Harassment From Sex. It Did Not Touch 'Severe or Pervasive.'
• A severance release does not buy your employer everything — Minnesota and federal law wall off several claims you cannot sign away
• Your Last Paycheck in Minnesota: The 24-Hour Clock Does Not Start Until You Demand It in Writing
• Your Minnesota Employer Has Seven Working Days to Hand You Your Personnel File, Free
• Minnesota earned sick and safe time covers your family, and an attendance point charged for using it is unlawful by name
• Minnesota's Whistleblower Act Protects a Report of a Legal Violation — Not Every Complaint About a Boss
• Minnesota's Trade Secrets Act protects secret information, not what you learned how to do — and the element employers most often fail is one of their own
• Minnesota Unemployment: Being Fired Does Not Disqualify You, and the First Hearing Is the Only One You Get
• Quitting Does Not End Your Unemployment Claim in Minnesota — the Legislature Wrote Ten Exceptions Into the Same Sentence That Creates the Disqualification
• A Minnesota employer may say far more in a reference than dates of employment — including documented theft, harassment, or violence — and § 181.967 is a shield for the employer, not a gag rule
• An arbitration clause moves your claim to a different forum; it does not delete the claim — and Minnesota's own attempt to void these clauses was held preempted in 1995
• Repeating Your Employer's False Reason to a Job Interviewer Can Be the "Publication" in a Minnesota Defamation Case — but Compulsion, Foreseeability, and Proof of the Interviews Are All Required
• Signing a 1099 agreement does not make you a contractor in Minnesota — being asked to sign one is itself a violation
• Workers' Compensation Is Not Your Only Remedy: Minn. Stat. § 176.82 Puts Two Separate Civil Claims Outside the Exclusivity Bar, and Only One of Them Reaches a Small Employer
• A Minnesota employer with one employee owes pregnancy accommodations and 12 weeks of parenting leave — and FMLA leave can be counted against those 12 weeks
• Minnesota paid leave is not a new-parent program — bonding is one of six qualifying reasons, and the benefit is money, not job-protected weeks
• A Minnesota employer may test you only under a written policy and only in five situations — and a first positive confirmatory test is not by itself a lawful reason to fire you