St. Paul, MN - Two recent articles from KTTC and Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) highlighted the early launch of Paid Leave applications.

KTTC:

Minnesota’s Paid Leave Portal launched ahead of schedule this week, allowing employees to begin applying for the state’s Paid Leave program a few days early.

The new law allows employees across the state to take up to 12 weeks of leave to deal with things like medical issues, childbirth, or caretaking.

A payroll tax of 0.88% will be taken out of paychecks in the New Year to fund the program.

“We will not be waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, because I’m proud to say that Paid Leave is open now, and we invite people to apply starting [Wednesday],” said MN Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Commissioner Matt Varilek.

Read more at KTTC: MN launches Paid Leave portal ahead of Jan. 1st rollout date

MPR News:

Minnesota’s paid family and medical leave program is getting a bit of a head start.

Officials at the Department of Employment and Economic Development said they will open an application portal for people to apply for extended leaves on Wednesday — a day ahead of schedule.

Minnesota lawmakers passed the paid leave law in 2023 but gave the state agency until this Jan. 1, 2026, to get it ready.

Commissioner Matt Varilek said the agency’s preparations allowed for a slightly earlier launch.

…

A few weeks ago, people who had children in 2025 were allowed to apply for leave they can take before a baby’s first birthday in 2026. The agency said more than 7,000 people have signed up for that.

Varilek said the pre-launch signups have provided valuable information about demand and taken some of the pressure off the system once it goes fully live.

“We know from the experience of other states that the largest share of applications you get on day one are not necessarily people that have a medical incident, but rather that eligibility of parents who had a baby in 2025,” Varilek said. “So you can get a lot of load of the system on day one. We have shifted a lot of that load onto December.”

Read more at MPR: Ahead of Jan. 1, signups start for Minnesota's new paid family leave program