Minnesota Paid Leave Program

The Minnesota Paid Leave program begins January 1^st, 2026, meaning employees will be able to apply for and take paid leave beginning January 1^st, 2026.

Key upcoming requirements:

Due now: Designate a Paid Leave Administrator and create a Paid Leave Administrator account

1. Log into your MN UI employer account. Select ‘Paid Leave’ and then ‘Designate Paid leave administrator’.  The website will walk you through how to select the administrator.
2. Set up a Paid Leave Administrator account on the Paid Leave website. This is where you will  review leave applications, view Paid Leave determinations, access tax filing information, apply for Small Employer Assistance Grants, and request an Equivalent Plan Substitution.

Due November 15^th, 2025: Requests for equivalent plan substitution for Q1 2026.  Go here for more information.

Due November 30^th, 2025: Make decisions about how Paid leave will work in your organization.

1. Determine how you will split the premiums with your employee.  Employers are required to pay a minimum of 50% of the .88% premiums. If you choose to pay the full premium, the employee portion will be reported as wages for the employee.  For small business with 30 or fewer employees, they can reduce the employer portion to .22%, however, the employee portion remains the same at .44%.
2. Set up the process for notifying and requesting paid leave to include intermittent leave policies.
3. Decide if you will allow employees to use their other paid time off benefits as “top off” payments while on leave.
4. Update your company handbooks and written policies to include all this information.

Due December 1^st, 2025: Notify Employees about Paid Leave

1. Hang a poster in the primary language of any language that is primary for five or more of your workers.
2. Provide an individual notification in the employee’s primary language, that they must acknowledge receiving through signature or other electronic acknowledgement.

Due January 2026: Begin payroll deductions and submit leave requests.

Due April 30^th, 2026: First quarterly premiums are due with 2026 Q1 wage detail reports.

1. Wage detail reporting has been required through your existing MN unemployment insurance reports since Q3 2024.  If any employee receives a W-2 wage and is exempt from MN unemployment insurance, they are not exempt from MN Paid Leave.  You must create and report wages through a Paid Leave only account.
2. The wages are capped out the same as the Social Security Wage base. This was $176,100.00 in 2025.