Saint Paul’s minimum wage depends on the size of your employer, and during the current phase-in the rates change on two different dates a year rather than one.
Minneapolis has one general rate regardless of employer size or employee age, subject to a narrow exception for employees under 20 in city-approved training and apprenticeship programs. What decides whether you are owed it is where you physically perform the work.
Minnesota’s general minimum wage under Chapter 177 is $11.41 an hour in 2026 and rises to $11.87 on January 1, 2027. That is the general floor rather than the whole picture. If you work in Minneapolis or Saint Paul, a higher city rate applies to the hours you work inside those city limits. And separate industry-specific wage standards can require more again, which from September 10, 2026 they do for nursing home workers across the state.
An automatic meal deduction is not unlawful in itself. It becomes a problem when the system subtracts half an hour from your pay on a day you worked straight through. That time was hours worked. Hours worked have to be paid, and it makes no difference that a timekeeping system recorded them otherwise.
Generally yes. A Minnesota employer may require you to remain on the premises during your meal break, and doing so does not by itself mean the time has to be paid. That answer surprises many people, and location is the wrong thing to focus on anyway. Whether your meal break is paid turns on what you are responsible for during it, not on where you are standing.
Rest breaks are paid. Meal breaks are governed by a different rule, and that rule is not simply that they are unpaid. Getting this right matters more than it sounds, because the answer determines whether an unpaid half hour on your timesheet was lawful or was wages you are owed.
