2025 Session Last amended: 2023 session

§ 181.06 — Assignment of Wages; Payroll Deductions

Plain-Language Summary

Minnesota limits how far into the future an employee's wages can be assigned or transferred. Any assignment of wages more than 60 days out is void, unless it applies only to wages above $1,500 per month and lasts less than five years. Payroll deductions are allowed only with a written agreement and only for specific purposes like union dues, insurance, or credit union contributions.

181.06 ASSIGNMENT OF WAGES; PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS.

Subdivision 1.Assignment of wages.

Every assignment, sale, or transfer, however made or attempted, of wages or salary to be earned or to become due, in whole or in part, more than 60 days from and after the date of making such transfer, sale or assignment shall be absolutely void; provided however, that the foregoing restriction against transfer, sale or assignment shall not apply to any assignment, sale or transfer of that portion of wages or salary to be earned or to become due in excess of the first $1,500 per month where such assignment is for less than five years. §

Subd. 2.Payroll deductions.

A written contract may be entered into between an employer and an employee wherein the employee authorizes the employer to make payroll deductions for the purpose of paying union dues, premiums of any life insurance, hospitalization and surgical insurance, group accident and health insurance, group term life insurance, group annuities or contributions to credit unions or a community chest fund, a local arts council, a local science council or a local arts and science council, or Minnesota benefit association, a federally or state registered political action committee, membership dues of a relief association governed by sections 424A.091 to 424A.096 or Laws 2013, chapter 111, article 5, sections 31 to 42, contributions to a nonprofit organization that is tax exempt under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code, or participation in any employee stock purchase plan or savings plan for periods longer than 60 days, including gopher state bonds established under section 16A.645. A private sector employer must make payroll deductions to a nonlabor organization under this subdivision when requested by five or more employees.

History:

(4137) 1905 c 309 s 3; 1937 c 95 s 1; 1951 c 213 s 1; 1965 c 778 s 1; 1967 c 517 s 1; 1977 c 231 s 1; 1984 c 508 s 1; 1997 c 183 art 2 s 17; 2015 c 65 art 4 s 1; 2023 c 53 art 11 s 22

History: History: (4137) 1905 c 309 s 3; 1937 c 95 s 1; 1951 c 213 s 1; 1965 c 778 s 1; 1967 c 517 s 1; 1977 c 231 s 1; 1984 c 508 s 1; 1997 c 183 art 2 s 17; 2015 c 65 art 4 s 1; 2023 c 53 art 11 s 22

Practical Notes

When this applies: When an employer takes deductions from your paycheck or when wages are assigned to a third party. Who this affects: All Minnesota employees and employers. Key points: Your employer cannot deduct money from your pay unless you have signed a written agreement authorizing the deduction, and it must be for a specific permitted purpose (union dues, insurance premiums, credit union contributions, stock plans, nonprofit donations, etc.). Wage assignments that reach more than 60 days into the future are generally void. If five or more employees request deductions to a nonlabor organization, a private employer must comply.

Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes