A law signed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz that went into effect on Jan. 1 is predictably causing all sorts of heartburn.
The new law says that “[e]mployees may use up to 12 weeks of medical leave and up to 12 weeks of family leave, with a combined cap of 20 weeks in a benefit year,” according to the League of Minnesota Cities.
Moreover, and probably more importantly, the employees will receive “partial wage replacement” paid out by the state.
What could go wrong? A lot, including fraud:
🚨 Tim Walz’s Administration admitted that rioters have been using Minnesota’s Paid Family Medical Leave program after being tear-gassed.
That’s up to 12 weeks off of work, paid for by the taxpayers… The fraud never ends!
“The short answer to your question is yes” pic.twitter.com/AH2YVFrYCo
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) February 25, 2026
“Providers are being pressured by patients for the full 12 weeks of leave, even if their condition does not require it,” Lauryn Schothorst of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce told station KMSP earlier this week. “A number of respondents have shared that their employees are making more on paid leave than the wage replacement thresholds in law. ”
“Employees are going on vacation or to music festivals while supposedly on leave. These anecdotes don’t necessarily reveal fraud or a lack of oversight by the department. They highlight concerns with the broad eligibility and limited employer recourse elements of the law. To employers, overuse is abuse,” she added.
Broad eligibility requirements are commonplace with laws passed by Democrats.
Speaking with Fox News, state Sen. Michael Holmstrom concurred with Schothorst’s assessment.
“The chamber is right,” he said. “Minnesota is not a business-friendly state. Employers were already offering this benefit and then the state got in between employers and their employees, which it has no business doing.”
As an example, he cited a major employer in his district that has observed a 700 percent increase in paid leave use since the law took effect. And now, thanks to this, the company doesn’t have enough skilled workers left to backfill those positions.
Brian McClung, a former spokesperson for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, wasn’t surprised by these results:
No way. I am shocked – shocked! If only someone had warned the MN Democrat trifecta that creating an expensive, cumbersome, bureaucratic system might go badly (when the vast majority of businesses already offered paid leave without a mandate). https://t.co/DplekYKH9R
— Brian McClung (@bmcclung) March 11, 2026
State Sen. Mark Koran also concurred with Schothorst, adding that there’s “no real enforcement” and oversight because the state conveniently “removed the employer from the oversight and administration of the program.”
“The program isn’t being used as intended, which Republicans predicted,” he explained. “It was sold as a replacement for short and long-term leave replacement. Now it’s a complex sick leave program with the effective date on day one, not the traditional seventh day of injury or illness.”
“The liberal use guidelines mean employees can take a day off every week, or every Monday and Friday for a long weekend. It’s a huge negative impact on employers’ ability to find substitute labor and puts Minnesota in the bottom tier of business competitiveness,” he added.
Koran predicted that it will ultimately result in fewer jobs, lower pay, decreased benefits, and a “continued exodus of business creation and expansion out of Minnesota.”
Minnesota resident Dustin Grage, a columnist for Townhall, predicted this would happen.
“When you build a multibillion-dollar state benefit program with weak oversight, fraudsters line up,” he told Fox News in January. “We’ve already seen what happens in Minnesota. The paid family leave system will be a magnet for abuse.”
Yet stunningly, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development defended the law when pressed by Fox News.
“Minnesota is not unique in enacting a state paid family and medical leave program – we are one of 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have done so,” the spokesperson said. “The United States is an outlier – it’s one of only seven countries worldwide that lacks a national paid family and medical leave program. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics noted in 2023 that 73% of American civilian workers lack access to paid family leave.”
“We recognize that Paid Leave is a big change for Minnesota employers. That’s why we’ve worked closely with employers around the state, plus many employer advocacy groups, to develop tools and materials to make administering Paid Leave as smooth as possible. We have received positive feedback from many employers, and we are consistently improving service offerings,” the spokesperson added.
They also alleged that the state “takes program integrity seriously” …
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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