Judge Limits Reach of New Minneapolis PTO Ordinance

A Hennepin County judge reined the City of Minneapolis in slightly in a ruling that will have great impact on the city’s new paid time off ordinance.  As written, the new Minneapolis ordinance requires that beginning on July 1, 2017, all employers with at least six (6) employees must provide at least one (1) hour of paid time off for every thirty (30) hours worked within the city.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and other groups filed a lawsuit in the fall of 2016 seeking to enjoin Minneapolis from enacting the ordinance on several grounds.  One of the arguments in the lawsuit from the Chamber of Commerce is that Minneapolis overreached in this ordinance by requiring employers based outside the city limits to provide PTO to their employees who work in the city.  Frankly, this requirement was also likely to be the biggest headache for non-Minneapolis based employers from an administrative and policy standpoint.  While the court refused to enjoin the city from implementing most of the key requirements of the PTO ordinance, it did block the city from requiring businesses located outside Minneapolis from having to provide PTO to employees working within city limits.

The decision from the court is a mixed bag.  On the one hand, the court refused to stop the city from implementing its new PTO ordinance.  On the other hand, the court did businesses throughout the U.S. who send employees to work in Minneapolis a service by limiting the scope of the ordinance only to employers who have a physical presence within the city.  The case is not finished and things could change.  But for now, only covered employers with a physical presence within the City of Minneapolis’ borders will need to comply with this PTO ordinance starting July 1, 2017.

Thompson Coe and myHRgenius Tip of the Week is not intended as a solicitation, does not constitute legal advice, and does not establish an attorney-client relationship.