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Nearly 75,000 people got approval to take paid family and medical leave under the state’s program in the first six months since it got off the ground.

Officials in the Department of Employment and Economic Development provided an update Tuesday about who had applied for the partial pay replacement to take time to bond with a new child, heal from a sickness or injury or care for a loved one.

They reported that 126,373 applications had been submitted, with an approval rate of nearly 60 percent so far. An application doesn’t automatically translate into granted leave. Some applications are still pending or the denials are subject to further consideration.

Almost half of the approved leave cases — 38,000 — were for family bonding. Medical leave requires applicants to include certification from a health provider and that category had a lower approval rate.

DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek said that despite some small hiccups, the rollout had gone off pretty well.

“We had predictions that we would be behind schedule in launching, we had predictions that we would be over budget in launching, we had predictions that the technology would not work properly,” Varilek said. “I'm happy to note that on those three measures: We came in under budget with implementation. We launched early. And the technology has operated smoothly.”

The program was funded through a one-time state payment of $668 million in 2023 and is topped off by payroll taxes collected from workers and employers. Leaders from the paid family leave office said there was an initial bump in applications early this year as parents applied for bonding leave. 

Parents who welcomed children in 2025 were also eligible to apply within one year of that family expansion event — a birth or adoption.

But applications have since trended down, with between 3,000 and 4,000 applications for paid leave coming in each month.

“We've really leveled off,” said DEED deputy commissioner Evan Rowe. “By about the third week in January, we saw applications to new applicants declined by about a quarter, and now we're really starting to get into that more steady state of program operations as we go along.”

Rowe said the state would consult an actuarial analysis this month to determine whether the payroll tax rate for workers and employers would need to increase from the current level.

The officials noted that while the program allows people to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave — with a possible longer combination if someone takes medical and bonding or caring leave in a calendar year — the average times are lower.

Minnesotans who took time to bond with a child took 8.2 weeks on average, those taking medical leave took 6.5 weeks on average and those who took caring leave used 5.7 weeks on average.

Here’s an additional breakdown of where the program stands after six months:

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Minnesota’s paid leave program gives workers time off with partial pay around family expansions or medical programs. So far almost 75,000 people have been approved for leave.

As Minnesota paid leave program hits half-year mark, 75,000 have already tapped into it

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