FAQs: Nursing home workers

Background

Certain employees who work in nursing homes are covered by the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board Act. Under this law, the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board has enacted rules governing minimum wages and holiday pay for these workers. The holiday pay rules went into effect Jan. 1, 2025. The minimum-wage standards are not yet in effect.

Links to resources and FAQs posted by the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board about the holiday pay rules are available online at NHWSB holiday pay resources.

More information about the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board is available at Boards and councils.

FAQs

Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) are informational only and apply only to Minnesota laws and rules governing holiday pay for nursing home workers. These answers are not a source of law or legal advice. To review the rules in full, see Minnesota Rules 5200.2000 to 5200.2020. To review the applicable statutes in full, see Minnesota Statutes section 181.211 to 181.217. These FAQs are prepared by the Department of Labor and Industry, Labor Standards Division, to provide guidance to stakeholders.

Who is covered by the definition of "nursing home worker"?

Remote workers

Fully remote workers would not be covered by the holiday pay rules because the definition of "nursing home worker" requires the worker to provide services in a nursing home.

Administrative staff members

Administrative staff members are excluded by law from the definition of nursing home worker and so are not required to receive holiday pay. When considering whether a particular worker's position is administrative, the department will look to the law governing nursing home facility rates as instructive. See Minn. Stat. section 256R.02, subdivision 4. The law governing facility rates defines administrative staff to include the nursing home administrator, assistant administrator, business office employees, security guards, purchasing and inventory employees, personnel recruitment, legal services, accounting services, management or business consultants, and data processing and information technology.

Contractors

Unless an exception applies, the holiday pay rules apply to any worker who provides services in a nursing home, including contractors. Exceptions are administrative staff members (see above), medical directors, nursing directors, physicians and individuals employed by a supplemental nursing services agency.