The Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed its much-publicized paid sick and safe leave ordinance, scheduled to take effect in July, 2017.
The ordinance is relatively unchanged from the version that we summarized in “Minneapolis Prescribes Mandatory Sick Leave” although it now covers all employers of one or more employees (previously the threshold was six). However, employers with less than six employees need only provide unpaid sick and safe leave. A few other technical changes appear as well.
Is Everybody Happy?
Workers anticipating new benefits and greater flexibility to meet family needs are obviously cheered by this development but members of the local business community remain dissatisfied by what they believe is an anti-competitive measure. A joint statement from the Minneapolis Downtown Council, and the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce read:
“On behalf of businesses throughout Minneapolis and the region, we remain concerned about the many impacts today’s City Council vote will have on employers and employees alike. It is especially unfortunate that the adopted ordinance will disrupt administration of existing time-off plans which provide superior benefits to workers. Despite their good intentions, our elected officials do not know better than the thousands of businesses which have developed policies and practices that work well for them and the people they employ. We take Mayor Hodges and Council Members at their word that this is an unintended consequence which will be remedied prior to these new mandates going into effect.”
Bottom Line
Much work remains as the City must still decide how they will determine if an employer’s existing benefit plan complies with the new ordinance and how the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department will enforce these new requirements. However, absent successful legal challenge, it looks like paid sick leave is here to stay for people working in Minneapolis.