Student Worker Earned Sick and Safe Time Law (ESST)

Student employees in Minnesota, including student employees of Minnesota State Mankato are entitled to earned sick and safe time, a form of paid leave. Student employees must accrue at least one hour of earned sick and safe time for every 30 hours they work, up to at least 48 hours in a year. A year for purposes of the employee’s earned sick and safe time accrual is the State of Minnesota fiscal year, July 1 – June 30.

Student employees are not required to seek or find a replacement for their shift to use earned sick and safe time. They may use earned sick and safe time for all or part of a shift, depending on their need.

https://www.dli.mn.gov/sick-leave

Who is Eligible

Student employees who work at least 80 hours in a year
Earns one hour for every 30 hours worked and can earn a maximum of 48 hours in a year
A year is measured as fiscal year for Minnesota State employees including student employees
Can carry over accrued hours to following year for a maximum of 80 hours

At What Rate Must the Leave Be Paid and From What Source?

Same hourly rate a student employee earns when they are working
Contracted student employees will be determined by campus on the amount paid divided by hour, and the hourly rate must exceed minimum wage
State and Federal work study funds cannot be used to pay for sick leave.
Sick hours entered under a Work-Study position will automatically be charged to the hiring department’s cost center.

Earned sick and safe time can be used for:

an employee’s mental or physical illness, treatment or preventive care;
the mental or physical illness, treatment or preventive care of an employee’s family member;
absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking of an employee or their family member;
closure of an employee’s workplace due to weather or public emergency or closure of their family member’s school or care facility due to weather or public emergency; and
when determined by a health authority or health care professional that an employee or their family member is at risk of infecting others with a communicable disease.

Which family members are included?

Student employees may use earned sick and safe time for the following family members:

their child, including foster child, adult child, legal ward, child for whom the employee is legal guardian or child to whom the employee stands or stood in loco parentis (in place of a parent);
their spouse or registered domestic partner;
their sibling, stepsibling or foster sibling;
their biological, adoptive or foster parent, stepparent or a person who stood in loco parentis (in place of a parent) when the employee was a minor child;
their grandchild, foster grandchild or step-grandchild;
their grandparent or step-grandparent;
a child of a sibling of the employee;
a sibling of the parents of the employee;
a child-in-law or sibling-in-law;
any of the family members listed in 1 through 9 above of an employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner;
any other individual related by blood or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship; and
up to one individual annually designated by the employee

Student Employee Notice to Use Sick Leave

Foreseeable leave: employees must provide advance notice of need for leave
Unforeseeable leave: employees must provide notice of need for leave as soon as practicable
Notice can be by phone or email or written statement

What is Reasonable Sick Leave Documentation?

When an employee uses accrued sick leave hours for more than 3
consecutive days, employer may require reasonable documentation
- Up to one individual annually designated by the employee
  - To be documented at the time of the initial sick leave request and will remain in
    effect until the end of the FY
  - A form and/or correspondence is considered confidential and should be treated,
    recorded and stored as private documentation in the HR office for employees and
    the equivalent office designation for student employees.
  - NOTE: Student employees are NOT required to disclose such information to their supervisor.

Additional Information

Student employees who transfer within Minnesota State colleges and Universities retain all accrued sick leave time
Reinstate accrued sick and safe time if return to employer within 180 days of separation
Unused paid leave is not required to be paid out

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