REST BREAKS AND LEAVE TIME
REST BREAKS Employers must permit each employee who works eight or more consecutive hours sufficient time to eat a meal. The employer is not required to pay the employee during the meal break as long as the employee is completely relieved of his or her duties for 20 minutes or longer (generally 30 minutes under Federal rules). An employer also must allow each employee adequate time within each four consecutive hours of work to utilize the nearest convenient restroom. A collective bargaining agreement may establish different rest and meal breaks. Accommodation for Nursing Mothers Minn. Stat. § 181.939 requires employers to provide “reasonable unpaid break time each day to an employee who needs to express breast milk for her infant child,” unless to do so would “unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.” The statute also provides that the break time must, if possible, run concurrently with any break time already provided to the employee. An employer must make reasonable efforts to provide a nursing mother with a room or other location to express milk that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public and includes an electrical outlet. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees for asserting rights or remedies under this section. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry enforces this section. An amendment to Minn. Stat. § 617.23 makes clear that it is not a violation of the state “indecent exposure” law for a woman to breast feed.
LEAVE TIME Vacation, Holiday, and Sick Leave
Minnesota employers are not required by law to provide vacation, holiday or sick time for their employees. Most employers do provide such leave, however. Employers should provide employees with notice of their vacation, holiday and sick leave policies in an employee handbook, or otherwise communicate these policies to employees in writing. These policies should address whether vacation or sick leave can be carried over from year to year, or whether it is forfeited if unused by the end of the year. The policies also should address whether the employee will be paid for unused leave. If the employer has a policy stating that employees will be paid any unused accrued vacation at termination, failure to make such payments, may result in an employer being found guilty of a gross misdemeanor. Family and Medical Leave Act (Federal Law). The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers engaged in interstate commerce or in an industry affecting interstate commerce, of 50 or more employees in 20 or more weeks in the current or prior calendar year to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave or accrued paid leave to eligible employees for certain family and medical reasons. Employees are eligible if they have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, and for 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months immediately preceding
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