Seasonal hospitality employment

To be approved for a designation, your business must be in the hospitality industry. 

Hospitality employers include: 

• Restaurants, hotels, motels, lodges, resorts  
• Food stands, food trucks, school or special event concession stands 
• Mobile and seasonal food businesses

Seasonal employers bring in most of their revenue within six months of the year. To prove you are a seasonal employer, you must submit receipts from the prior calendar year.

• Gross receipts from your six highest months of sales must be three times greater than the receipts from your six lowest months.
• The months do not need to be consecutive.

For example, you would qualify as a seasonal employer if your 2024 gross sales receipts show:

• January to June average sales = $100,000
• July to December average sales = $300,000

You must submit receipts each year to prove you are still seasonal.

If you plan to designate seasonal hospitality employment, you must: 

• Notify affected employees in writing. A sample notice is available from Paid Leave in multiple languages.
• Notify them when you offer the job (or by Dec. 1, 2025, if they are already employed).
• Get written or electronic acknowledgement that each employee received this information. If an employee refuses to acknowledge, document how they were notified.

Failure to properly notify employees can result in penalties and loss of the designation.

Even with an approved designation, you must:

• Submit wage detail reports for all your employees, including seasonal hospitality employees. You will be sent instructions on how to report wage detail for designated employment.
• Submit a quarterly seasonal hospitality employee list. If this list is not submitted each quarter, your Seasonal Hospitality Employment Designation may be revoked.
• Notify Paid Leave within 5 business days if:
  • You no longer meet the definition of a seasonal employer, or
  • Someone working in designated seasonal hospitality employment will be employed more than 150 days. When that happens, the worker is covered by Paid Leave, and you must start paying premiums right away. If you do not notify the state in time, you will owe missed premiums and a penalty.

1. Log in to your Employer Account at uimn.org, and submit a request for a Seasonal Hospitality Employment Designation. For a step-by-step guide, visit uimn.org.
2. After you complete your request online, you will need to send additional documents by mail to support your request.

If your request is approved, employees working in designated employment can’t take Paid Leave time away from your business, and premiums are not owed on their wages.

You will need to submit a quarterly list of employees working under seasonal hospitality employment. If you do not do this, your designation may be revoked. You must update your quarterly seasonal hospitality employee list each time you hire someone who will work in designated seasonal hospitality employment.

You must still submit wage detail reports for all your employees, including those designated under seasonal hospitality employment.

Employers with an approved equivalent plan can still request to designate seasonal hospitality employment. This process will still take place through the state, as outlined above.

If you no longer meet the definition of a seasonal employer, or an employee working in designated employment is employed more than 150 days, your equivalent plan must begin coverage immediately.