Eligible workers get up to 12 weeks of paid medical leave and 12 weeks of paid family leave with a cap between the two programs of five months per year. While there has been outreach about the program over the past few years, agricultural lobbyist Bruce Kleven says questions remain. “I still think there are a lot of folks who either haven’t heard about it or don’t think it applies to them because they’re a farm or they’re small,” said Kleven. “The takeaway here is that it does apply to them; we don’t have any exemptions for small businesses or ag, unfortunately.” The law applies to all employees, whether full-time, part-time or H-2A. The employees cannot lose their jobs if they take paid leave. “I don’t know where you’re going to get the replacement worker from out in rural Minnesota for those three months but assuming you get someone to fill that spot, when the three months are open for taking care of a newborn you have to let the employee come back and their job needs to be waiting for them in the same capacity or similar as though they never left.”
