2025 Session Last amended: 2005 session

§ 181.11 — Discharged Employee Must Be Paid Within 24 Hours

Plain-Language Summary

When a temporary or traveling worker's job ends (whether the work is done, they quit, or they are fired), the employer must pay their wages within 24 hours. If the employer does not pay within two business days, the employer must pay double the worker's daily earnings for each day payment is late.

181.11 DISCHARGED EMPLOYEE MUST BE PAID WITHIN 24 HOURS.

When any such transitory employment as is described in section 181.10 which requires an employee to change the employee’s place of abode while performing the service required by the employment is terminated, either by the completion of the work or by the discharge or quitting of the employee, the wages or earnings of such employee in such employment shall be paid within 24 hours and, if not then paid, the employer shall pay the employee’s reasonable expenses of remaining in the camp or elsewhere away from home while awaiting the arrival of payment of wages or earnings and, if such wages or earnings are not paid within two business days after the termination of such employment for any cause, the employer shall, in addition, pay to the employee two times the average amount of the employee’s daily earnings in such employment from the time of the termination of the employment until payment has been made in full.

History:

(4140-2) 1933 c 223 s 2; 1986 c 444; 2005 c 127 s 1

History: History: (4140-2) 1933 c 223 s 2; 1986 c 444; 2005 c 127 s 1

Practical Notes

When this applies: When temporary or transitory employment that requires the worker to travel away from home ends for any reason. Who this affects: Workers in temporary jobs that require changing their place of residence, and their employers. Key points: Payment is due within 24 hours of the job ending. If the employer does not pay on time, the employer must also cover the worker’s reasonable expenses for staying at the job site while waiting for payment. After two business days without payment, the penalty is double the worker’s daily earnings for each additional day of delay.

Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes