Minnesota: Potpourri of Wage & Hour News

By Corie J. Anderson - Peters, Revnew, Kappenman & Anderson, P.A.

February 25, 2020

In the past week there was nothing really Earth-shattering as far as wage and hour updates, but certainly some updates to note:

•    MnDOLI issued a reminder to employers that most Minnesota employers are subject to both state and federal wage laws…employers must review both laws (and ordinances) to ensure compliance!  For example, unlike FLSA:

   o    Minnesota does not allow any partial-day absence deductions for salaried (exempt) workers.
   o    Minnesota does not have a computer exemption (I have this conversation with employers often)…and computer geniuses may be genius but whether they are exempt is another matter.
   o    Minnesota does not have a “highly compensated” worker exemption.
   o    The Wage Theft Prevention Act’s employee notice form requires employers to state the actual basis for the exemption (administrative, executive, professional) – be sure it is not “computer” or “highly-compensated”!  And no, “exempt” is not sufficient.
   o    The Minnesota Rules (5200.0190, .0200 and .0210) provide for the various duties test for executive, administrative or professional under Minnesota law.  Again, this is not the same as FLSA…two totally different tests.

•    The City of Minneapolis has published its final versions of the Minneapolis Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance FAQs and Rules (though they are unchanged from the version published January 24, 2020.
•    The Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry (MnDOLI) has issued a Notice of Correction to its commercial wage rates for prevailing wages applicable to jobs advertised to be on or after January 27, 2020.  All prevailing wage contractors should be signed up to receive MnDOLI’s wage rate notifications (at the link above).
•    The NLRB is expected to issue its final rule on February 26, 2020 regarding its joint-employer standard under the National Labor Relations Act – this is a huge reversal and restores decades of decisions prior to 2015.