Minnesota Minimum Wage 2026: $11.41 Per Hour, $11.87 in 2027

Subdivision 1. Amount. (a) Except as otherwise provided in sections 177.21 to 177.35, every employer must pay each employee wages at a rate of at least: (1) $8.00 per hour beginning August 1, 2014; (2) $9.00 per hour beginning August 1, 2015; (3) $9.50 per hour beginning August 1, 2016; and (4) the rate established under paragraph (c) beginning January 1, 2018. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), during the first 90 consecutive days of employment, an employer may pay an employee under the age of 20 years a wage of at least: (1) $6.50 per hour beginning August 1, 2014; (2) $7.25 per hour beginning August 1, 2015; (3) $7.75 per hour beginning August 1, 2016; and (4) the rate established under paragraph (c) beginning January 1, 2018. No employer may take any action to displace an employee, including a partial displacement through a reduction in hours, wages, or employment benefits, in order to hire an employee at the wage authorized in this paragraph.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-29 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at revisor.mn.gov

Subdivision 1. Scope. Unless the language or context clearly indicates that a different meaning is intended, the following terms, for the purposes of sections 177.21 to 177.35, have the meanings given to them in this section. Subd. 2. Department. "Department" means the Department of Labor and Industry. Subd. 3. Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of labor and industry or authorized designee or representative. Subd. 4. Wage. "Wage" means compensation due to an employee by reason of employment, payable in: (1) legal tender of the United States; (2) check on banks convertible into cash on demand at full face value; (3) except for instances of written objection to the employer by the employee, direct deposit to the employee's choice of demand deposit account; or (4) an electronic fund transfer to a payroll card account that meets all of the requirements of section 177.255, subject to allowances permitted by rules of the department under section 177.28. Subd. 5. Employ. "Employ" means to permit to work. Subd. 6. Employer.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-29 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at revisor.mn.gov

Subdivision 1. Examination of records. The commissioner may enter during reasonable office hours or upon request and inspect the place of business or employment of any employer of employees working in the state, to examine and inspect books, registers, payrolls, and other records of any employer that in any way relate to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment of any employees. The commissioner may transcribe any or all of the books, registers, payrolls, and other records as the commissioner deems necessary or appropriate and may question the employer, employees, and other persons to ascertain compliance with any of the sections listed in subdivision 4. The commissioner may investigate wage claims or complaints by an employee against an employer if the failure to pay a wage may violate Minnesota law or an order or rule of the department. Subd. 2. Submission of records; penalty. (a) The commissioner may require the employer of employees working in the state to submit to the commissioner photocopies, certified copies, or, if necessary, the originals of records that relate to employment or employment status which the commissioner deems necessary or appropriate.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-29 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at revisor.mn.gov

Subdivision 1. Misdemeanors. An employer who does any of the following is guilty of a misdemeanor: (1) hinders or delays the commissioner in the performance of duties required under sections 177.21 to 177.435, 181.01 to 181.723, or 181.79; (2) refuses to admit the commissioner to the place of business or employment of the employer, as required by section 177.27, subdivision 1; (3) repeatedly fails to make, keep, and preserve records as required by section 177.30; (4) falsifies any record; (5) refuses to make any record available, or to furnish a sworn statement of the record or any other information as required by section 177.27; (6) repeatedly fails to post a summary of sections 177.21 to 177.44 or a copy or summary of the applicable rules as required by section 177.31; (7) pays or agrees to pay wages at a rate less than the rate required under sections 177.21 to 177.44; (8) refuses to allow adequate time from work as required by section 177.253; or (9) otherwise violates any provision of sections 177.21 to 177.44. Subd. 2. Fine.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-29 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at revisor.mn.gov

Also relied on in: Minnesota Whistleblower Laws: Protections and How to Report

Except where the Uniform Commercial Code, this section, section 541.05, 541.073, 541.076, or 604.205 otherwise prescribes, the following actions shall be commenced within two years: (1) for libel, slander, assault, battery, false imprisonment, or other tort resulting in personal injury, and all actions against veterinarians as defined in chapter 156, for malpractice, error, mistake, or failure to cure, whether based on contract or tort; provided a counterclaim may be pleaded as a defense to any action for services brought by a veterinarian after the limitations period if it was the property of the party pleading it at the time it became barred and was not barred at the time the claim sued on originated, but no judgment thereof except for costs can be rendered in favor of the party so pleading it; (2) upon a statute for a penalty or forfeiture, except as provided in sections 541.074 and 541.075; (3) for damages caused by a dam, other than a dam used for commercial purposes; but as against one holding under the preemption or homestead laws, the limitations shall not begin to run until a patent has been issued for the land so damaged; (4) against a master for breach of an indenture…

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-29 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at revisor.mn.gov

Also relied on in: Minnesota Defamation Laws: Libel & Slander (2026), Minnesota Statute of Limitations: Filing Deadlines by Case Type, Defamation Laws by State: Libel and Slander (2026)

Every employer shall pay to each of his employees who in any workweek is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or is employed in an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, wages at the following rates: except as otherwise provided in this section, not less than— $5.85 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after May 25, 2007; $6.55 an hour, beginning 12 months after that 60th day; and $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day; if such employee is a home worker in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, not less than the minimum piece rate prescribed by regulation or order; or, if no such minimum piece rate is in effect, any piece rate adopted by such employer which shall yield, to the proportion or class of employees prescribed by regulation or order, not less than the applicable minimum hourly wage rate. Such minimum piece rates or employer piece rates shall be commensurate with, and shall be paid in lieu of, the minimum hourly wage rate applicable under the provisions of this section.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-28 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov

Also relied on in: Ohio Debt Collection Laws: Garnishment Formula, the 6-Year Consumer Debt Rule, and Repossession, Federal Minimum Wage 2026: $7.25 an Hour Since 2009, Minimum Wage by State 2026: All 50 States and DC

After the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from June 25, 1938, it shall be unlawful for any person— to transport, offer for transportation, ship, deliver, or sell in commerce, or to ship, deliver, or sell with knowledge that shipment or delivery or sale thereof in commerce is intended, any goods in the production of which any employee was employed in violation of section 206 or section 207 of this title, or in violation of any regulation or order of the Secretary issued under section 214 of this title; except that no provision of this chapter shall impose any liability upon any common carrier for the transportation in commerce in the regular course of its business of any goods not produced by such common carrier, and no provision of this chapter shall excuse any common carrier from its obligation to accept any goods for transportation; and except that any such transportation, offer, shipment, delivery, or sale of such goods by a purchaser who acquired them in good faith in reliance on written assurance from the producer that the goods were produced in compliance with the requirements of this chapter, and who acquired such goods for value without notice of any such…

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-28 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov

Also relied on in: Federal Whistleblower Laws: Protections and How to Report, Employer Threatening to Call Immigration? Your Rights in the U.S., Wage Theft in the U.S.: Your Rights Regardless of Immigration Status

No provision of this chapter or of any order thereunder shall excuse noncompliance with any Federal or State law or municipal ordinance establishing a minimum wage higher than the minimum wage established under this chapter or a maximum work week lower than the maximum workweek established under this chapter, and no provision of this chapter relating to the employment of child labor shall justify noncompliance with any Federal or State law or municipal ordinance establishing a higher standard than the standard established under this chapter. No provision of this chapter shall justify any employer in reducing a wage paid by him which is in excess of the applicable minimum wage under this chapter, or justify any employer in increasing hours of employment maintained by him which are shorter than the maximum hours applicable under this chapter.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-28 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov

Also relied on in: Alabama Minimum Wage 2026: $7.25 Federal, No State Rate, Alaska Minimum Wage 2026: $14.00 an Hour, $15.00 in July 2027, Arizona Minimum Wage 2026: $15.15 Per Hour, $15.65 in 2027