Minnesota Paid Leave went live January 1, 2026, and it covers your nanny from the first dollar of wages. There's no small-employer exemption that lets household employers skip it. The first quarterly premium payment is due April 30, 2026.
The good news: as a family with one nanny, you automatically qualify for the reduced small-employer rate, and you only pay about half of it yourself.
Does Minnesota Paid Leave apply to my nanny?
Yes. Every nanny working in Minnesota is covered, and every family paying one is responsible for premiums and quarterly reporting.
Minnesota's own guidance is blunt about this: "All employers, regardless of size, are required to participate in Paid Leave unless they are specifically exempt from the law. There is no exclusion in the law for small employers." (source) That includes families with a single part-time nanny, a weekend babysitter over the FICA threshold, or a live-in caregiver.
If you pay domestic wages of any amount, you need a Paid Leave account with the state. This is different from Minnesota unemployment insurance (UI), which only kicks in once you pay $1,000 or more to household workers in a calendar quarter. Paid Leave has no such floor.
What household employers actually pay: 0.66%, split roughly 2:1
For 2026 the standard premium rate is 0.88% of wages, but small employers qualify for a reduced rate of 0.66%. A household employer qualifies automatically, because the small-employer test requires:
- 30 or fewer workers in each quarter, and
- An average quarterly wage of $27,745.88 or less (150% of the statewide average)
You meet both. A family with a single nanny earning $50,000/year falls roughly $15,000 below the wage cap, and you're obviously under 30 employees.
Within that 0.66%, you can deduct up to 0.44% from your nanny's paycheck. You pay the remaining 0.22% out of pocket as the employer. The state doesn't let you push more than 0.44% onto the employee. You can always choose to cover more yourself, but you can't collect more from them.
| Your nanny's annual wages | Nanny pays (0.44%) | You pay (0.22%) | Total premium (0.66%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $110 | $55 | $165 |
| $40,000 | $176 | $88 | $264 |
| $60,000 | $264 | $132 | $396 |
| $80,000 | $352 | $176 | $528 |
| $100,000 | $440 | $220 | $660 |
Premiums are capped at the Social Security wage base. For 2026 that means wages above $185,000 are not subject to the 0.66% rate.
The split between medical and family leave underneath the 0.88% total is 0.61% medical + 0.27% family, but you don't need to allocate that yourself — the state does it for you on the back end. Your payroll just withholds 0.44% as a single line item.
How to register a Minnesota Paid Leave account
You create a free Employer Account at ui.mn.gov, and the state assigns you one of two account types based on whether you also owe unemployment insurance. Most household employers don't have a Minnesota UI account, because you only need one once you hit $1,000 in domestic wages in a quarter. Paid Leave closes that gap with a separate account type.
If you're already paying UI (over the $1,000/quarter threshold), Minnesota auto-created a Joint UI / Paid Leave Employer Account for you and linked it to your existing login.
If you're under the UI threshold, or you have a brand-new nanny and no UI account, you need to create a Paid-Leave-ONLY Employer Account at ui.mn.gov. That's the same unemployment portal, but the state uses it for both programs. You register once, then both wage detail reports and premium payments live inside that single login.
You need this set up before your first quarterly filing on April 30, 2026. Registration is free and takes a few minutes.
Quarterly Minnesota Paid Leave deadlines for 2026
Paid Leave runs on the same quarterly calendar as unemployment insurance. You file one wage detail report and pay one premium per quarter, both through the same ui.mn.gov dashboard, with the first filing due April 30, 2026.
| Quarter | Wages covered | Report + payment due |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | January 1 – March 31 | April 30, 2026 |
| Q2 2026 | April 1 – June 30 | July 31, 2026 |
| Q3 2026 | July 1 – September 30 | October 31, 2026 |
| Q4 2026 | October 1 – December 31 | January 31, 2027 |
Zero-wage quarters still require a report if your account is active. You can't skip a filing because your nanny was off for the summer. You file a zero report instead.
What you report each quarter:
- Nanny's name and Social Security number
- Gross wages paid in the quarter
- Hours worked
- Any other identifying employee data the state requires
If you also run MN unemployment through the same portal, you'll submit two wage detail files per quarter: one for joint UI/Paid Leave employees and a separate one for Paid-Leave-only employees. Household employers usually only have one file.
What your nanny actually gets
Paid Leave pays your nanny directly — the state writes the check, not you. Benefits come from the program fund your premiums feed into.
- Up to 12 weeks of Medical Leave for the nanny's own serious health condition
- Up to 12 weeks of Family Leave for bonding, caring for a sick family member, military family needs, or safety leave
- 20-week combined cap per benefit year
- Weekly benefit: 55% to 90% of wages on a sliding scale, maxing at the state average weekly wage ($1,423 in 2026)
- Job protection kicks in once your nanny has been with you 90 days or more
The 90-day job protection rule means you must restore your nanny to the same job (or an equivalent position with the same pay and benefits) when their leave ends. Before 90 days, retaliation protections still apply, but full job-restoration does not.
This is not FMLA. FMLA only covers employers with 50+ employees, and will never apply to a family with one nanny. Minnesota Paid Leave is the state-run equivalent, and it does cover you.
Small Employer Assistance Grants: up to $3,000 per leave
If your nanny takes leave for 7+ days, you can apply for a reimbursement grant to help cover the cost of a temporary backup or the bonus you paid someone to work extra hours.
| What you can use it for | Per-leave cap | Annual cap per employer |
|---|---|---|
| Temporary nanny wages or sign-on bonus | $3,000 | $6,000 |
| Bonus for an existing part-time caregiver working extra | $3,000 | $6,000 |
| Training for a backup caregiver | $3,000 | $6,000 |
| Recruiting or placement agency fees | $3,000 | $6,000 |
To qualify you must have 30 or fewer employees, under $3 million in annual revenue (trivially true for a household), and be in good standing with the Minnesota Secretary of State. Applications are submitted through the Paid Leave Administrator Account after you've already incurred the cost. Apply within 90 days of the leave ending. The grant program is funded at $5 million per year on a rolling basis, and once the money runs out, no more grants are awarded that year.
What Minnesota Paid Leave actually costs a family
A family paying a nanny $50,000/year owes $330 total in 2026 premiums, split $220 from the nanny and $110 from you. The full breakdown:
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total premium (0.66% of $50,000) | $330/year |
| Withheld from nanny (0.44%) | $220/year |
| Out of pocket for you (0.22%) | $110/year |
| Per biweekly paycheck, nanny | $8.46 |
| Per biweekly paycheck, you | $4.23 |
For context, Washington's PFL program costs a family employing the same nanny about $324/year — entirely withheld from the nanny, nothing out of pocket for the family. DC's program costs a DC family about $375/year (0.75% on $50,000), 100% paid by the employer. Minnesota sits in between: real money from both sides, but small enough that it rarely changes the hire/no-hire calculus.
Where Paid Leave shows up on your nanny's pay stub
The employee's 0.44% deduction is a post-tax deduction for Minnesota state income tax. It reduces take-home pay, but it doesn't reduce the wages reported in boxes 1, 3, or 5 of the W-2. Your 0.22% employer contribution also doesn't affect taxable wages — it's your cost, not additional compensation to the nanny.
On a NannyKeeper pay stub, the line shows as "MN Paid Leave" under withholdings, alongside FICA, federal, and state income tax. The employer share shows separately on your employer cost summary, not on the nanny's stub.
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Don't confuse Paid Leave with Earned Sick and Safe Time
Minnesota has two parallel paid-leave mandates for household employers, and they're different programs:
- Paid Leave (PFML): the state-run insurance program this post covers. Funded by premiums. Nanny files a claim, state pays the benefit.
- Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST): a separate Minnesota labor law requiring you to provide paid sick/safety time to employees working 80+ hours per year in the state. Accrual-based (1 hour per 30 worked). You pay it directly from your own pocket when the nanny uses it.
ESST predates Paid Leave and does not go away when Paid Leave starts. You're responsible for both. ESST is your money; Paid Leave premiums feed a state fund that pays your nanny on claim.
FAQ
Do I need to pay Minnesota Paid Leave premiums if I only have one nanny?
Yes. Minnesota Paid Leave has no small-employer exemption and no wage floor. If you're paying a nanny for any work performed in Minnesota, you register, withhold 0.44%, pay 0.22% yourself, and file quarterly starting April 30, 2026.
How is this different from Minnesota unemployment insurance?
Minnesota UI only applies once you pay $1,000+ in domestic wages in a calendar quarter. Paid Leave applies to every dollar of wages from day one. Same portal (ui.mn.gov), two separate programs, two separate account types: joint or Paid-Leave-only.
Can I just pay the full 0.66% myself instead of withholding from my nanny?
Yes. The 0.44% is a maximum you can deduct, not a requirement. Some families choose to cover the entire 0.66% as a benefit, similar to how some employers cover the full cost of health insurance. The state doesn't care how the cost is split on your end, as long as the full premium gets paid.
What if my nanny only works part of the year?
You still report and pay premiums on every dollar paid in each quarter. A summer-only nanny triggers a Q2 and Q3 filing; you file zero reports for Q1 and Q4 if the account stays open. If you close out the arrangement permanently, you can close the Paid Leave account after your final quarterly filing.
Does my nanny qualify for benefits from day one?
Benefits eligibility depends on wage history across all Minnesota employers, not time with you specifically. Job protection is separate and kicks in at 90 days with you as the employer. Your nanny could qualify for benefits earlier in their tenure but not yet have restoration rights to their position with your family.
What happens if I miss the April 30 deadline?
Minnesota charges penalties and interest on late Paid Leave premiums, similar to unemployment. The state also reserves the right to assess the full premium (both shares) against the employer if wages weren't reported correctly. If you're behind, file and pay as soon as possible through your ui.mn.gov account.
Check your state's specific requirements →