Minnesota nursing homes must now pay covered workers at least $19 an hour, with higher floors of $22.50 for certified nursing assistants, $23.50 for trained medication aides and $27 for licensed practical nurses. The state wage schedule took effect September 10, giving employees and operators a concrete compliance date after federal approval delayed implementation.
The change reaches beyond direct-care titles. Minnesota’s Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board says the general $19 floor applies to covered nursing-home workers who do not fall into the three specified clinical categories. The state’s implementation update says the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the related State Plan Amendment on August 11; under the governing rule, the wage standards became effective 30 days later.
For workers, the practical question is which floor applies to their job and whether the new rate appears in the first full pay period covering work performed on or after September 10. Employers also need to account for another scheduled increase on January 1, 2027: the published table raises the four minimums to $20.50, $24, $25 and $28.50, respectively. Those occupational floors are separate from the board’s existing holiday-pay rules, which require at least time-and-a-half for work on 11 listed state holidays.
The state designed a reimbursement mechanism alongside the wage mandate. Minnesota Statutes section 256R.495 directs the Department of Human Services to calculate nursing-facility rate adjustments using the gap between a worker’s prior hourly wage and the new minimum. Facilities seeking the adjustment must report compensated hours and wage rates for workers below the new standard and submit a spending plan explaining how the money will support compensation.
That financing structure matters because Minnesota’s nursing homes rely heavily on Medicaid-linked reimbursement. It does not, however, replace the employer’s obligation to pay the applicable minimum. The statute conditions rate adjustments on facility applications and compliance, while the labor standards establish the worker-facing floor. The underlying Workforce Standards Board Act defines covered facilities and workers, while excluding several roles, including nursing-home administrators, medical directors, physicians and workers supplied by supplemental nursing-services agencies. That makes job classification important when a worker reviews a paycheck.
Employees who believe their pay does not reflect the new standard can use the Department of Labor and Industry’s Labor Standards contact channels to ask questions or file a wage complaint. Workers should preserve pay stubs, schedules and job descriptions, since those records can clarify both hours worked and the occupational category the facility applied.
The board is also collecting feedback on how the rules are working. Its September schedule lists a public forum in St. Paul on September 22 from 5 to 7 p.m., available in hybrid format, followed by a special board meeting at 4 p.m. that day. For workers and operators, that creates an immediate venue to raise questions about coverage, reimbursement and implementation before the next wage increase arrives in January.
