The employer must not retaliate against an employee for requesting or obtaining a leave of absence, and must continue to make group insurance or health care coverage available to the employee during the leave. The employer is not required to pay the cost of the insurance or health care coverage while the employee is on leave of absence. If the leave is longer than one month, the employee must give the employer reasonable notice prior to returning to work. An employee returning from a leave of absence is entitled to return to employment in the former position or in a position of comparable duties, number of hours, and pay. Certain exceptions apply to situations where the employer experiences a layoff that would have affected the employee and to collective bargaining situations. Upon return to work, the employee is entitled to the rate of pay the employee was receiving at the time of the leave, plus any automatic adjustments in the employee’s pay scale that occurred during the leave period. The employee retains all accrued preleave benefits of employment and seniority. An employee who is injured by a violation of this law may sue for damages and to recover attorney’s fees, and may seek an injunction or other equitable relief from the courts. Employers or employees with questions about the interaction of federal and state parenting or family leave laws should seek professional advice. Sick Leave Benefits: Care of Relatives. (Minn. Stat. § 181.940) Minnesota employers are not required to provide sick leave benefit for their employees. However, employers who are covered by the Care of Relatives Act (that is, employers with 21 or more employees at one site) must allow eligible employees (employees who have worked at least half time for a covered employer at least 12 months prior to their request) to use any sick leave that is provided to care for their children (including biological, adopted, foster, or step-child), a spouse, sibling, parent, grandparent, or stepparent, and also mother-in-law, father-in-law, or a grandchild (including a step-grandchild and a biological adopted or foster grandchild) on the same terms upon which the employee may use sick leave for him or herself. An employer may limit the use of sick leave for an employee’s adult child, spouse, sibling, parent, grandparent, or stepparent to no less than 160 hours in a 12-month period. No limit may be placed on sick leave for a minor child. Employers who are covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will have the added burden of coordinating FMLA leave and state Care of Relatives Leave when leaves of absence qualify under both laws. Employers with more than 20 employees must allow employees to use personal sick leave benefits for absences due to illness or injury of their children, for reasonable periods of time, on the same terms as the employees are able to use sick leave benefits for their own illness. The child must be under age 18 or under age 20 if he or she is attending secondary school. To qualify for sick child leave, an employee must have worked for the employer for 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the request on at least a half-time basis. Salary continuation and disability payments are not included in determining benefits available for sick child leave. This section applies only to sick leave benefits paid from the employer’s general assets, and (presumably) does not apply to sick leave benefits paid by a third-party insurer.
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