The Minneapolis Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance requires employers to pay all wages owed for work performed in the city on the regularly established payday, and it backs that with notice and recordkeeping obligations that go beyond state law. It took effect January 1, 2020 and is enforced by the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights.
Minnesota’s wage theft law does two separate things, and confusing them is the most common error in general coverage of it. One half expanded what employers must do and what employees can recover in a civil case. The other half created a criminal offense that applies only where an employer acted with intent to defraud.
If a Minnesota employer has not paid you all the wages you earned, the law often gives you more than the shortfall. What you can recover depends on which statute your claim arises under, and that is the first question worth answering.
Report it to the labor standards office of the city where you performed the work. In Minneapolis that is the Labor Standards Enforcement Division of the Department of Civil Rights. In Saint Paul it is the Labor Standards Division of the Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity, known as HREEO.
The rate follows the work. For the hours you perform inside Minneapolis the Minneapolis rate applies, for hours inside Saint Paul the applicable Saint Paul rate, and for hours elsewhere in Minnesota the general state rate. In each case what you are owed is the highest wage floor applicable to that work at that location, since an industry-specific standard can require more than any of them.
Four separate youth and training wage rules apply across Minnesota, Minneapolis and Saint Paul during 2026. They differ on age, on duration, on the rate and on whether a formal program is required.
