The College provides Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) to all eligible employees. This policy applies to all exempt personnel. ESST time may be taken for the following purposes:
- An employee’s: mental or physical illness, injury, or other health condition; need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or need for preventive medical or health care.
- An employee’s care of a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or other health condition; who needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or other health condition; or who needs preventive medical or health care.
- An employee’s absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking of the employee or employee’s family member, provided the absence is to:
- seek medical attention related to physical or psychological injury or disability caused by domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking;
- obtain services from a victim services organization;
- obtain psychological or other counseling;
- seek relocation or take steps to secure an existing home due to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking; or
- seek legal advice or take legal action, including preparing for or participating in any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to or resulting from domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking; or
- Closure of an employee’s worksite due to weather or other public emergency, or an employee’s need to care for a family member whose school or place of care has been closed due to weather or other public emergency. An employee’s worksite is not considered “closed” if the employee is an Essential Employee as defined in the Administrative Policy: Campus and Building Closing, and that employee is required to be at work.
- An employee’s inability to work because the employee is: prohibited from working by the employer due to health concerns related to the potential transmission of a communicable illness related to a public emergency; or seeking or awaiting the results of a diagnostic test for, or a medical diagnosis of, a communicable disease related to a public emergency and such employee has been exposed to a communicable disease or the employee’s employer has requested a test or diagnosis.
- When it has been determined by the health authorities having jurisdiction, or by a healthcare professional, that the presence of an employee or family member of the employee in the community would jeopardize the health of others because of the exposure of the employee or family member of the employee to a communicable disease, whether or not the employee or family member has actually contracted the communicable disease.
Notice Required
If the need to use Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time is foreseeable at least seven days in advance, the employee must provide at least seven days’ advance notice. If the need is unforeseeable, the employee must give notice as soon as practicable. When an employee uses Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time for more than three consecutive days, the college may require documentation as described below:
- For Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time needed for reasons numbered 1, 2, 5 and 6, reasonable documentation may include:
- a signed statement by a health care professional indicating the need for it, or
- a written statement from the employee indicating that the employee is using or used it for one of the specific reasons numbered 1, 2, 5 and 6.
- For Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time needed for reason number 3, reasonable documentation would include a court record or documentation signed by a volunteer or employee of a victim services organization, an attorney, a police officer, or an anti-violence counselor.
- For Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time needed due to reason number 4, reasonable documentation would include a written statement from the employee indicating that the employee is using or used it for that reason.
In providing documentation in support of a request to use Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time, employees cannot be required to disclose the details relating to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking, or the details of a medical condition. To maintain confidentiality, documentation may be provided to designated human resources staff rather than the employee’s immediate supervisor. Written statements by an employee may be written in the employee’s first language and need not be notarized or in any particular format.
Definitions
The following are definitions of terms used in this policy and in the PTO policy for non-exempt employees provided above.
- “Domestic abuse” has the meaning given in Minn. Stat. 518B.01.
- “Employee” means any person who is employed with the College, including as a temporary, part-time or student worker, for at least 80 working hours in a year in Minnesota. “Employee” does not include an independent contractor or a person employed by the College who works less than 80 hours per year in Minnesota, for example, remote workers based in other states.
- “Family member” means:
- An employee’s (or their spouse’s or domestic partner’s): child, foster child, adult child, legal ward, child for whom the employee is legal guardian, or child to whom the employee stands or stood in loco parentis;
- An employee’s (or their spouse’s or domestic partner’s) sibling, stepsibling, foster sibling, or person to whom the employee’s parents stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child;
- An employee’s (or their spouse’s or domestic partner’s) biological, adoptive, or foster parent, stepparent, or a person who stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child;
- An employee’s (or their spouse’s or domestic partner’s) grandchild, foster grandchild, or step grandchild;
- An employee’s (or their spouse’s or domestic partner’s) grandparent or step grandparent;
- a child of a sibling of the employee (or the employee’s spouse or domestic partner);
- a sibling of the parents of the employee (or the employee’s spouse or domestic partner)
- An employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner;
- An employee’s (or their spouse’s or domestic partner’s) child-in-law or sibling-in-law;
- Any other individual related by blood or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship; or
- Up to one individual annually designated by the employee.
- “Health care professional” means any person licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized under federal or state law to provide medical or emergency services, including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, advanced practice registered nurses, mental health professionals, and emergency room personnel.
- “Public Emergency” means a declared emergency as defined in Minn. Stat. 12.03 Subd. 1e, or a declared local emergency under Minn. Stat. 12.29.
- “Sexual assault” means an act that constitutes a violation under Minn. Stat. 609.342 to 609.3453 or 609.352.
- “Stalking” has the meaning given in Minn. Stat. 609.749.
- “Year” means a calendar year.
Eligibility for ESST
All employees who work for a wage or salary, including temporary and casual employees, student workers and professionals in training, are eligible for Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time if they work at least 80 hours in a calendar year in the state of Minnesota. An employee’s eligibility for Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time is independent of their eligibility for any other form of paid leave provided by the College. In cases where more than one type of paid time off is available for the same reason, the employee may choose which type of paid time off to submit in the Time Entry System (TES), subject to the provisions that apply under the applicable policy. Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time is only available for use when an employee is working in Minnesota.
When an employee uses Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time for a reason that is also covered under the Family and Medical – FMLA Leave, Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time will run concurrently with Family and Medical Leave.
Employees are eligible to use Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time only to cover time when they would otherwise be expected to perform work. In determining whether an employee is expected to perform work at a specific time, supervisors may not take into consideration an employee’s eligibility to use Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time.
Accrual of Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time
Eligible employees are entitled to accrue 2 minutes of Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time for every hour actually worked in the state of Minnesota, up to a maximum of 48 hours in a calendar year. Up to 80 hours of accrued but unused Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time will be carried over in any calendar year. Whenever a balance of 80 hours is reached, accruals of Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time will stop until the balance drops below 80 hours, at which time the employee will be eligible for additional accruals up to the maximum of 48 hours in a calendar year and 80 hours total.
Termination and Reinstatement
Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time hours have no cash value except when used to cover a qualifying absence while the employee is working in the state of Minnesota, and any accrued but unused hours are not paid out under any circumstances upon the employee’s termination of employment. If the employee discontinues working for St. Olaf in the state of Minnesota, and returns to working in the state of Minnesota within 180 calendar days of their termination or transfer out of state, any previously earned but unused Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time shall be reinstated, and the employee shall be entitled to use the reinstated balance and accrue additional Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time upon their return.
Effective Date: 01/01/2024