Glossary — Minnesota Employment Guide

A

At-will employment: Minnesota's default rule that the employer-employee relationship is generally at-will — either side may end it for any reason or no reason — leaving in place every statutory and common-law exception that removes a particular reason from the employer's list.

C

Charge (Department of Human Rights): The verified written complaint that starts an administrative case at the Minnesota Department of Human Rights — one of the three routes Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 3(a), allows, all subject to the same one-year deadline.
Compelled self-publication: A Minnesota defamation doctrine under which the publication element can be satisfied by the plaintiff's own repetition of the statement, where the plaintiff was compelled to repeat it and that compulsion was foreseeable to the defendant.
Covenant not to compete: An agreement restricting where, for whom, for how long, or in what capacity an employee may work after the employment ends — void and unenforceable in Minnesota, by statute, in a contract or agreement entered into on or after July 1, 2023, outside the sale-of-a-business and dissolution exceptions in Minn. Stat. § 181.988, subd. 2(b).
Covered employment (Paid Leave): Minnesota's Paid Leave chapter has no term "covered employee" — it defines covered employment, meaning services performed for wages that meet the chapter's Minnesota-connection test, and separately defines a covered individual.

D

Determination of ineligibility: The written document by which the Department of Employment and Economic Development first rules that an applicant is not eligible for unemployment benefits — final unless appealed within 45 calendar days after it is sent.
Disability (Human Rights Act): Any condition or characteristic that renders a person a disabled person, which the Minnesota Human Rights Act reaches by four routes — actual impairment, a record of one, being regarded as having one, and, since 2024, an episodic or remitted impairment.
Discriminate: Under the Minnesota Human Rights Act the term includes segregate, separate, or harassment — and since 2024 the harassment branch is no longer limited to sexual harassment or to claims based on sex.

E

Earned sick and safe time: Minnesota's accrued paid leave, defined by reference to how it is paid and what it may be used for — at the employee's base rate, never below the applicable minimum wage, for the purposes and conditions in Minn. Stat. § 181.9447.
Employee (Whistleblower Act): For Minnesota's Whistleblower Act, a person who performs services for hire in Minnesota for an employer — a definition that expressly excludes independent contractors.
Employer (Human Rights Act): Under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, an employer is a person who has one or more employees — the Act's core prohibitions carry no minimum size.
Employer (Whistleblower Act): For Minnesota's Whistleblower Act, any person having one or more employees in Minnesota, including the state and its political subdivisions — there is no minimum size.
Employment misconduct: The unemployment-insurance standard for a discharge that makes an applicant ineligible: intentional, negligent, or indifferent conduct that is a serious violation of the standards of behavior an employer has the right to reasonably expect.

G

Good faith (Whistleblower Act): Since 2013, Minnesota's Whistleblower Act defines good faith as a negative: conduct that does not violate Minn. Stat. § 181.932, subd. 3, which is the ban on knowingly false or recklessly false statements.
Good reason caused by the employer: The three-part statutory test that lets someone who quit still receive unemployment benefits — a reason directly related to the employment, for which the employer is responsible, adverse to the worker, and compelling enough that an average reasonable worker would quit.
Gratuities: Minnesota's wage statutes define gratuities, not "gratuity" or "tip" — money a guest, patron, or customer gives an employee for services, plus certain obligatory charges the customer could reasonably read as payment for personal service.

L

Liquidated damages: In Minnesota's wage and hour statutes, a second award equal to the wages owed — not a negotiated contract figure, and not a defined term anywhere in chapter 177 or chapter 181.

M

Misappropriation: Under Minnesota's trade secret statute, either acquiring a trade secret while knowing it was obtained by improper means, or disclosing or using one without consent in the circumstances the statute lists.

N

Nondisclosure agreement: A contract restricting what an employee may disclose — a category Minnesota's noncompete statute names in order to exclude it from the ban, and does not define — nor does any other section of chapters 177, 181, or 325C.
Nonsolicitation agreement: A contract restricting an employee from soliciting a former employer's customers or using its client or contact lists — a category Minnesota's noncompete statute names in order to exclude it from the ban, and does not define — nor does any other section of chapters 177, 181, or 325C.

P

Penalize (Whistleblower Act): Conduct that might dissuade a reasonable employee from making or supporting a report, expressly including post-termination conduct and conduct undertaken for the benefit of a third party.
Personnel record: The set of employment documents a Minnesota employee has a statutory right to review, defined by an inclusive list in Minn. Stat. § 181.960, subd. 4, followed by ten categories the term does not include.
Probable cause (Department of Human Rights): The determination the Human Rights commissioner makes after investigating a charge — whether there is probable cause to credit the allegation of unfair discriminatory practices — a phrase the chapter uses without defining.

Q

Qualified privilege: A conditional defamation defense for statements made on a proper occasion, from a proper motive, and on reasonable or probable cause — available to an employer explaining a discharge, and lost if abused.

R

Reasonable accommodation: Steps an employer with 15 or more employees, in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, must take to accommodate the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified individual with a disability, arrived at through an informal, interactive process the employer is required to start, unless the employer demonstrates undue hardship.
Release of Human Rights Act claims: A waiver of Minnesota Human Rights Act rights for past or concurrent conduct, which the Act makes rescindable in writing within 15 calendar days of signing — with an exception for settlements of a filed claim.
Report (Whistleblower Act): A verbal, written, or electronic communication by an employee about an actual, suspected, or planned violation of a statute, regulation, or common law, whether the violation is the employer's or a third party's.
Reprisal: The Minnesota Human Rights Act's retaliation provision, which makes it an unfair discriminatory practice to intentionally retaliate against someone for opposing a forbidden practice, participating in a proceeding, or associating with people who are disabled or of a different race, color, creed, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or national origin.

S

Sexual harassment: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, sexually motivated physical contact, or other verbal or physical conduct or communication of a sexual nature, in any of the three circumstances Minn. Stat. § 363A.03, subd. 43, describes.

T

Trade secret: Information that has independent economic value because it is not generally known or readily ascertainable, and that the owner has made reasonable efforts to keep secret — both parts are required by Minn. Stat. § 325C.01, subd. 5.

U

Undue hardship: The Human Rights Act defense to a reasonable-accommodation request — a phrase chapter 363A uses in five places without ever defining, supplying instead five factors to be considered.
Unemployment law judge: The department attorney who holds the de novo evidentiary hearing on an unemployment appeal and issues the findings of fact — decisions that are final unless reconsideration is requested within 45 calendar days, and expressly not precedential.
Unfair discriminatory practice: The Minnesota Human Rights Act's collective name for the acts it prohibits — defined by cross-reference to sections 363A.08 to 363A.19 and 363A.28, subdivision 10, rather than by description.

W

Wage: Compensation due to an employee by reason of employment, payable in one of the four forms Minn. Stat. § 177.23, subd. 4, allows — and, for the last-paycheck statute, wages are "actually earned" for all time worked at the higher of the regular or legally required rate.
Working day: A unit several Minnesota employment deadlines are counted in and that chapters 181 and 645 of Minnesota Statutes never define; this site counts Monday through Friday, excluding no holidays, so the dates it produces are the earliest a period could end.