At the start of employment, a Minnesota employer must give you a written notice setting out how you will be paid. Minn. Stat. § 181.032, paragraph (d) lists nine items it must contain. You must sign it, the employer must keep the signed copy, and you can require it in a language other than English.
At the end of every pay period, a Minnesota employer must give you an earnings statement covering that period. Minn. Stat. § 181.032 sets twelve items it must contain, and the employer may choose the format but not the contents.
Minnesota’s Payment of Wages Act is the group of statutes at the front of Minn. Stat. chapter 181 governing how and when you are paid, what your employer must tell you in writing, and what may be taken out of your check. It is separate from the minimum wage and overtime rules, which sit in chapter 177.
A Minneapolis worker owed wages has more than one route, and the routes differ in what they cover, what they can order and whether they pay your attorney fees. The main three are a complaint to the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights, a wage claim with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, and a civil action in district court. A fourth exists for federal minimum wage and overtime violations through the U.S. Department of Labor.
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.
