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9-13-2026 4:18am
MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Minnesota Workplace Rights Week Begins With Free Trainings and a Reminder: Know What Your Employer Can and Cannot Do
Tom Akaolisa
Editor
The September 13-19 campaign focuses on wages, workplace safety, discrimination and other protections, with free programs available to workers and employers
SAINT PAUL, MN (September 13, 2026). Minnesota begins Workplace Rights Week Sunday with a message that extends well beyond a ceremonial proclamation: workers cannot exercise protections they do not know they have.
Gov. Tim Walz has proclaimed September 13 through September 19 Workplace Rights Week in Minnesota, while the Department of Labor and Industry is launching a series of free events and educational programs for workers and employers.
The campaign is intended to help Minnesotans understand workplace rights and responsibilities, including where to seek help when something at work appears wrong.
That can involve pay, workplace safety, harassment, discrimination and other employment protections.
The Department of Labor and Industry says safe and healthy workplaces depend in part on workers understanding their rights and being able to assert them.
Free programs begin Monday
The week's first major educational event is a Worker Rights and Responsibilities webinar Monday, September 14, from 4 to 5 p.m.
Other programs continue throughout the week and beyond.
The Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board will hold public forums Monday in Rochester, Wednesday in Brainerd and September 22 in Saint Paul.
A construction seminar is scheduled Tuesday morning.
On Thursday, September 17, the state will offer training addressing illegal harassment and discrimination affecting apprentices.
A Spanish-language session, Conozca sus derechos laborales: Lo que toda persona trabajadora debe saber, is scheduled Thursday from 2 to 3 p.m.
Additional September programs cover employment law for small businesses, OSHA recordkeeping and broader workplace rights.
The state is also providing Workplace Rights Week materials in multiple languages, including Spanish, Somali, Hmong, Karen and simplified Chinese.
What should a worker do when something seems wrong?
The most useful part of Workplace Rights Week may be knowing where to start.
Minnesota's Department of Labor and Industry maintains information about labor standards and workplace protections and provides a direct contact point for workers and employers with questions.
The department's Labor Standards unit can be reached at 651-284-5075 or dli.laborstandards@state.mn.us.
Workers should preserve records relevant to a dispute whenever possible.
That can include pay stubs, schedules, time records, emails, text messages, workplace policies and written communications with supervisors.
A worker does not need to diagnose the legal problem before asking for help.
If wages appear wrong, required protections are not being followed, or a worker believes treatment at work may violate state law, the first step can simply be asking the appropriate agency what rules apply.
Why the state is taking the message directly to workers
Workplace Rights Week began in Minnesota in 2024.
During that inaugural campaign, state staff visited more than 1,000 worksites in 29 cities.
In 2025, DLI says its staff visited 1,470 worksites and partnered with 13 community groups, chambers of commerce, CareerForce centers and libraries.
That outreach reflects a basic challenge in labor enforcement.
A workplace protection written into Minnesota law has limited practical value if the person it protects does not know it exists.
For workers, Workplace Rights Week therefore comes down to a much simpler proposition than the proclamation signed at the Capitol:
Know the rules. Keep your records.
And know where to ask when something at work does not seem right.
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