Minnesota has long mandated state employers who offer sick leave to include time off for employees to care for sick or injured minor children.
Effective this Aug. 1, however, recent amendments to the Minnesota Parenting Leave Act expand the options for employee sick leave to include time to care for sick or injured children attending school up to age 20, and also time off to care for spouses, siblings, adult children, parents, grandparents and stepparents.
The floor to such leave under the legislation is 160 hours in a 12-month period, but longer periods can be used for the original category of sick or injured minor children. In this regard, the law is a bit murky, but Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry officials told Jackson Lewis LLP that the language will get straightened out in administrative and court proceedings in the coming years.