Nothing on this page is advice about your job, and no article can be. If you want your own facts looked at, a Minnesota employment attorney can do that — and several of the deadlines described on this site are short enough that waiting is itself a decision.
Also called: ESST; sick and safe time; earned sick time.
“Earned sick and safe time” means leave, including paid time off and other paid leave systems, that is paid at the same base rate as an employee earns from employment that may be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions as provided under section 181.9447, but in no case shall this base rate be less than that provided under section 177.24 or an applicable local minimum wage.
Minn. Stat. § 181.9445, subd. 4. The definition does two jobs at once. It sets a floor on the pay rate, and it reaches an employer’s existing paid-time-off system by name: leave paid at the base rate and usable for the purposes and conditions in § 181.9447 is earned sick and safe time, whatever the policy is called.
Where this comes up
- Minnesota earned sick and safe time covers your family, and an attendance point charged for using it is unlawful by name
- 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
- Signing a 1099 agreement does not make you a contractor in Minnesota — being asked to sign one is itself a violation
Sources checked September 8, 2026. Citations independently verified against the primary source September 8, 2026.