New year brings new laws, including paid family leave

A fresh batch of new laws will take effect in Minnesota on Jan. 1. Workers, parents, voters and those who spend their free time in the great outdoors will all see impacts.

The largest change is the rollout of paid family and medical leave as Minnesota becomes just the 13th state in the nation with such a policy.

Read on to learn more about paid leave and other laws set to take effect this week:

Beginning Jan. 1, Minnesota workers can apply for up to 12 weeks of paid leave to deal with medical conditions, bond with a new baby or take care of a sick loved one. Parental leave will be available to parents who welcomed a child via birth, adoption or foster placement.

Both Minnesota employers and employees will be subject to a new 0.88% payroll tax, at least half of which must be paid by the employer. Funds from businesses across the state will be pooled to pay benefits to workers who take leave, and payments will be administered similarly to unemployment insurance.

Workers can take both personal medical leave and family leave in a year, with the combined total capped at 20 weeks.

The currently required “adequate time” for breaks at work will be standardized to whichever is longer: 15 minutes or enough time to use the nearest restroom. For lunch, the current requirement of “sufficient time to eat” will be standardized to at least a 30-minute meal break for every six consecutive hours worked.

Increased water-use permit processing fees and water-use permit application fees also take effect on Jan. 1. These fees are credited to the water management account in the natural resources fund.

A “shotgun zone” that restricted deer hunters to using only shotguns, muzzleloaders and handguns in southern Minnesota has been repealed. Beginning Jan. 1, hunters anywhere in the state can once again use all legal firearms for deer hunting during the regular firearms season, unless a county in the former shotgun zone adopts an ordinance that restricts their use.

Under a new law, Minnesotans can petition the court for an order for protection against financial exploitation of vulnerable adults. The law aims to protect vulnerable people from scams and requires that a court hearing is held within 14 days of receiving the petition. Relief could include freezing the vulnerable adults’ assets and credit lines.

Voters requesting absentee ballots online will need a Minnesota driver’s license or state ID card number and the last four digits of their Social Security number. Otherwise, they will need to certify that they do not possess one of those numbers.

Those mailing an absentee ballot application must include the following statement in a way that is clearly visible when the mailing is opened: “This mailing is not an official election communication from a unit of government. This [absentee ballot application or sample ballot] has not been included at the request of a government official.”