Purpose of the Bill

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that disabled employees receive priority for open positions within their company if they cannot continue in their current role due to their disability. This is intended to support the employment continuity of disabled persons by facilitating their reassignment to suitable positions.

Main Provisions

• Priority Placement Requirement: If an employee becomes disabled and cannot perform their current job even with reasonable accommodations, they must be considered for other available positions within the company before external candidates are considered. This applies if they are qualified for the new position, with or without additional reasonable accommodations.
• Scope of Applicability: This new requirement concerns large employers in Minnesota, specifically those with more than 40,000 employees within the state.

Significant Changes to Existing Law

• This bill modifies Minnesota Statutes section 363A.08 by adding a new subdivision to ensure that disabled employees have the opportunity for reassignment to open positions within large organizations as a priority over new, external applicants.
• Employers must inform their employees about their rights to priority placement under this new subdivision.

Relevant Terms

• Disabled employees
• Priority placement
• Reasonable accommodation
• Employment continuity
• Reassignment
• Large employers