Minnesota Minimum Wage Law

Employers in Minnesota must conform with these state rules regarding the minimum wage paid to employees.

The minimum wage rate in Minnesota is $6.15 per hour for large firms (those with annual receipts of $625,000 or more) and $5.25 for small firms (those with annual receipts below $625,000).

Employers may pay employees under 20 years of age a wage of $4.90 per hour during the first 90 consecutive days of employment.

Minnesota's minimum wage law covers employee except:

• agricultural workers on farms with less than two full-time workers or no more than four workers at any one time
• farm workers under 18
• any individual working as a camp counselor in an organized resident or day camp
• bona fide executive, administrative or professional employees, and salespersons who conduct less than 20 percent of sales on an employer's premises
• those working gratuitously for a nonprofit organization
• any individual serving as an elected official for a political subdivision or on a governmental board, commission, committee or similar body or who renders service gratuitously to a political subdivision
• police officers and fire fighters
• public employees ineligible for the Public Employees Retirement Association
• taxi drivers
• babysitters
• part-time workers under 18 employed by a municipality as part of a recreational program
• anyone employed by the state as a conservation officer
• any motor carrier whose qualifications and hours are subject to control by the U.S. Department of Transportation
• seafarers
• overnight home care employees for up to eight hours between the hours of 10 p.m. and 9 a.m. if they are paid the minimum wage for at least four hours of an overnight stay
• clergy or members of religious orders working in the order's schools, hospitals and churches
• houseparents at county home schools
• persons employed seasonally at carnivals, circuses, fairs, or ski resorts within the state

The Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act includes as an authorized deduction from wages, the cost of uniforms or clothing furnished on an ongoing basis by a licensed motor vehicle dealer, not to exceed the lesser of 50 percent of the dealer's reasonable expense or $25 per month, including non-home maintenance. Deductions for uniforms and clothing cannot be made if the deductions reduce wages below minimum wage.