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.
Both investigate at no cost to you, and neither process requires a lawyer. A city complaint is not your only option, though the routes cannot always run at the same time, which is covered below.
You can reach out to us by calling (844) FERRARO.
Which Office Handles Which City
The city ordinances are enforced by the cities themselves rather than by the state. That is the first thing to get right, because sending a Minneapolis complaint to a state agency, or a Saint Paul complaint to Minneapolis, costs you time you may not have.
| Minneapolis | Saint Paul | |
| Enforcing office | Labor Standards Enforcement Division, Department of Civil Rights | Labor Standards Division, Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity |
| Contact | 311, or (612) 673-3000 | 651-266-8966, LaborStandards@stpaul.gov |
| How to report | Report of Violation form, in person, online, by mail or by email | Complaint to the Labor Standards Division |
| Anonymous reports | The department may investigate an anonymous report | Contact the division to ask how a report will be handled |
| Immigration status | Employees are covered regardless of immigration status | HREEO does not ask about immigration status |
| Third-party reports | Any employee or person may report a violation | Retaliation protection expressly extends to third-party complainants |
Source: Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights, rules implementing the Municipal Minimum Wage Ordinance and municipal minimum wage; City of Saint Paul, minimum wage and finalized rules for the Minimum Wage Ordinance. Verified September 5, 2026.
If you worked in both cities during the period you are complaining about, each city can only address the hours worked inside its own boundaries. That is a reason to keep your own record of which hours were worked where.
What to Gather Before You Report
You do not need a complete file to make a report, and a report is not a court filing. Gathering what you have first makes the investigation faster and reduces the chance that it turns into your word against a payroll system.
The most useful documents are your earnings statements for the period, which under Minn. Stat. § 181.032 has to show your rate or rates of pay and how that rate is calculated, your total hours unless chapter 177 exempts you, gross pay and every deduction taken. Alongside those, keep the written notice your employer gave you at the start of employment, any schedules or timekeeping printouts you can access, and any messages about your rate or your hours.
Your own contemporaneous record matters more than people expect. A calendar or notes app showing which days you worked, roughly what hours, and in which city, is evidence. It is worth starting one the day you begin to suspect a problem rather than reconstructing it later.
How the Minneapolis Process Works
Minneapolis handles minimum wage complaints through the same division that enforces its sick and safe time and wage theft ordinances, so a single report can raise more than one issue.
The department provides a simple Report of Violation form, and its rules allow a report to be submitted in person, online, by U.S. Mail or by email. Any employee or other person may report an alleged violation, and the department may investigate an anonymous report. The city also states that its staff will provide technical assistance or answer questions from anyone, which means you can call and ask what your rate should be before deciding whether to file anything.
Coverage for the Minneapolis minimum wage turns on performing at least two hours of work in a calendar week inside the city, regardless of where your employer is located. The 80-hour figure you may have seen attaches to the city’s separate wage theft ordinance and does not control minimum wage coverage.
How the Saint Paul Process Works
Saint Paul’s Labor Standards Division sits inside HREEO and enforces the city’s minimum wage, earned sick and safe time, and wage theft ordinances.
Complaints go to the division at 651-266-8966 or LaborStandards@stpaul.gov. The city states that the division will keep a complainant’s identity confidential to the extent the investigation permits, and that it does not ask about immigration status.
The city’s enforcement is real rather than theoretical. In one 2026 matter the City Council ordered restitution of more than $40,000 to 61 employees of a single business after the division found employees denied sick and safe time rights and employees paid below the required city minimum wage.
Saint Paul’s rate depends on your employer’s size band, which is a step Minneapolis does not have. If you are unsure which band applies, the division can determine business size during an investigation, which is often the practical answer when the headcount is not visible from outside.
What Happens After You Report
An investigation is an administrative process rather than a lawsuit. The division reviews the report, contacts the employer, and can require payroll records. Where records are inadequate, both cities have provisions allowing the department to determine what is owed from the evidence available rather than treating the absence of records as the end of the matter.
Outcomes can include an order to pay back wages and, where the ordinance authorizes it, liquidated damages: the Minneapolis Minimum Wage Ordinance provides for an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, and Saint Paul’s ordinance provides for liquidated damages alongside back pay. Neither city awards your attorney fees through its complaint process. Timelines vary with the complexity of the payroll question and with how quickly the employer produces records.
Retaliation Is a Separate Violation
Both ordinances prohibit retaliation for reporting, and state law adds its own protection.
Minn. Stat. § 181.03, subd. 6 bars an employer from firing, disciplining, penalizing, threatening or otherwise retaliating against an employee for asserting wage rights — telling the employer a complaint is coming counts too — and puts a civil penalty of $700 to $3,000 on each violation.
Minneapolis goes further for workers covered by its wage theft ordinance, treating a material change in the terms of employment within 90 days of protected activity as presumptively retaliatory unless the employer shows a non-retaliatory purpose by clear and convincing evidence.
If something changes at work after you report, write down what changed and when. The sequence is the evidence.
The Routes a City Complaint Does Not Replace, and One Timing Rule
A city complaint addresses hours worked in that city under that city’s ordinance. Two other routes exist, and filing with a city does not give up your substantive rights under either.
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry accepts wage claims under state law, which reaches the whole state rather than one city. And Minn. Stat. § 177.27, subd. 8 allows an employee to bring a civil action directly in district court, without filing with any agency first, for violations of sections 177.21 to 177.44. Where that section applies, an employer that pays less than the wages, gratuities and overtime owed under those sections is liable for the full amount plus an equal additional amount as liquidated damages, and subdivision 10 requires the court to order the employer to pay the employee’s reasonable costs, disbursements, witness fees and attorney fees. Claims under other statutes carry the remedies those statutes provide, so what a particular claim is worth depends on which law it arises under.
One sequencing rule matters in Minneapolis. Minneapolis Rule 3.10 adds a wrinkle: the Department will not investigate a reported violation once it knows the employee has already commenced a civil action on the same facts, unless that action has been dismissed without prejudice, and an employer can trigger this by simply forwarding the Department a copy of the complaint. Holding both options open is not the same as running them side by side, so the order you use them in deserves a deliberate choice.
Attorney fees are the other practical difference. Agency processes do not award your attorney fees; a successful court action under § 177.27, subd. 10 does.
Deadlines
The two city windows are different from each other, and neither matches the state one.
Under Rule 3.4 of the Minneapolis minimum wage rules, a reported violation of the minimum wage ordinance must be filed within one year of the alleged violation. The two-year and three-year figures that circulate for Minneapolis belong to the city’s separate Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance and do not govern a minimum wage complaint.
Saint Paul allows longer. Rule 13.1 of the city’s finalized Minimum Wage Ordinance rules gives any person alleging a violation the right to file a complaint with the Department within three years of the alleged violation, under Municipal Ordinance § 224.13(a). Saint Paul’s separate Wage Theft Ordinance carries its own two-year window, so do not import one into the other.
For a claim in court, Minn. Stat. § 541.07, clause (5) gives you two years to bring an action for wages, overtime, damages, fees or penalties, and a third year opens up if the employer either missed a department deadline for turning over payroll records or the underpayment was willful rather than an honest mistake.
Because every one of these periods runs from the violation rather than from the day you discovered it, a long-running underpayment loses its oldest weeks while you decide what to do. The one-year Minneapolis window is the shortest of them and the easiest to miss.
If you are weighing a city complaint against a wage claim, our pages on wage claims in Minneapolis and recovering unpaid wages in St. Paul explain what the court route involves, and the firm’s Minnesota employment law section covers the other areas we handle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a lawyer to file a city complaint?
No. Both city processes are designed to be used without one, and both offices will answer questions about your rate before you file. A lawyer becomes relevant if you are considering a court action instead of or alongside the complaint. The remedies differ by route: both cities can order back pay and, where the ordinance authorizes it, liquidated damages, but neither awards your attorney fees, while a court action under Minn. Stat. § 177.27, subd. 8 carries an equal additional amount as liquidated damages and, under subdivision 10, mandatory costs and attorney fees.
Can I report anonymously?
Minneapolis rules provide that the department may investigate an anonymous report. In Saint Paul, the division states it will keep a complainant’s identity confidential to the extent the investigation allows. Complete anonymity can limit what an investigation can establish, since some questions can only be answered by the affected employee, so it is worth asking the office how an anonymous report would be handled in your situation.
What if I no longer work there?
You can still report. Coverage attaches to the work you performed, and the applicable deadlines run from the violation rather than from whether you remain employed.
My employer says I am an independent contractor. Can I still report?
Yes, and the classification is part of what an investigation can examine. Neither city ordinance covers genuine independent contractors, but whether someone genuinely is one turns on the applicable classification tests rather than on a contract, a job title or a 1099. Our page on worker misclassification in Minnesota covers how those tests work.
Will reporting cost me anything?
The city processes are free. There is no filing fee and no charge for the investigation.
This article explains Minnesota law and city ordinances in general terms and is not legal advice. Wage rules change, city ordinances are amended, and the outcome of any claim depends on its particular facts. For advice about your situation, speak with a licensed attorney.
