State Expands Pregnancy and Parental Leave

On May 24, 2023, Gov. Walz signed a bill expanding pregnancy and parental leave to employees in the state. Under Minnesota's Pregnancy and Parenting Leave Act (PPLA), an employer with one or more employees working in MN must provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child, prenatal care, or incapacity due to pregnancy, childbirth or related health conditions.

Similar to federal FMLA, the employer must continue to make insurance coverage available to employees and their dependents under any group insurance policy, group subscriber contract or healthcare plan during this leave on the same basis as if the employee was not on leave. However, employees may be required to pay the full cost of coverage.

 The bill amends the PPLA so that, effective July 1, 2023, it has expanded in the following ways:

1. It covers employers with one or more employees working in MN. It used to cover employers with 21 or more employees.
2. Businesses and trusts are now included in the PPLA’s definition of employer. The term employer also includes:
   • Individuals
   • Corporations
   • Partnerships
   • Associations
   • Nonprofit organizations
   • Groups of persons
   • Governmental bodies and subdivisions
3. The PPLA no longer includes length-of-service and hours-worked requirements for employee eligibility. Employees are eligible if they work for one of the employers listed above and are either the natural parent or adoptive parent of a child.
4. Employers cannot terminate, discipline, penalize, interfere with, threaten, restrain, coerce or otherwise discriminate against employees for requesting or using leave under the law.

The amended PPLA is more generous in its eligibility requirements than federal and state FMLAs, but its focus is narrower. The PPLA covers more employers and employees, but the state and federal FMLAs provide leave for more qualifying reasons. Employers in the state should be aware of the expanded scope of PPLA.

SB 3035 (Article 11, Secs. 28-30) »
Pregnancy and Parental Leave Website »