The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Minnesota
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Minn. Stat. § 144.4196
- Effective
- standing
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesQuarantine and isolationStanding duty
- Addressees
- employers ('any person having one or more employees in Minnesota and includes the state and any political subdivision of the state')
- Character
- statutory duty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Minnesota DUT-MN
Operative words
An employer shall not discharge, discipline, threaten, or penalize a qualifying employee, or otherwise discriminate in the work terms, conditions, location, or privileges of the employee, because the employee: (1) has been in isolation or quarantine; or (2)(i) is not in isolation or quarantine, but has responsibility for the care of a person in isolation or quarantine
Penalty
Civil action by the employee within 180 days 'for recovery of lost wages or benefits, for reinstatement, or for other relief'; 'A qualifying employee who prevails shall be allowed reasonable attorney fees fixed by the court' (subd. 2(b)); absences beyond 21 workdays treated as serious illness for unemployment compensation (subd. 3).
What it required
Every Minnesota employer had to keep the job, terms and privileges of any employee who complied with isolation or quarantine for a communicable disease, including an employee who complied with 'a written recommendation of the commissioner or designee that the person enter isolation or quarantine', for up to 21 consecutive workdays per absence.
Retrieval noteSubd. 1 cl. (1)(iv) makes the duty attach when the employee complied with 'a written recommendation of the commissioner or designee that the person enter isolation or quarantine': an MDH quarantine recommendation therefore carried a binding statutory consequence for the employer. EO 20-54 (Ex. MN-020) recited 'the requirements of Minnesota Statutes 2019, section 144.4196' in extending protection to workers who stayed home under MDH or CDC guidance.