Under the Minnesota Wage Disclosure Protection Law, employees have the right to tell any person the amount of their own wages. While the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (Minn. Stat. §13.43), specifically lists an employee’s actual gross salary and salary range as public personnel data, Minnesota law also requires wage disclosure protection rights and remedies to be included in employer personnel handbooks. To that end, and in accordance with Minn. Stat. §181.172, employers may not:
- Require nondisclosure by an employee of his or her wages as a condition of employment.
- Require an employee to sign a waiver or other document which purports to deny an employee the right to disclose the employee’s wages.
- Take any adverse employment action against an employee for disclosing the employee’s own wages or discussing another employee’s wages which have been disclosed voluntarily.
- Retaliate against an employee for asserting rights or remedies under Minn. Stat. §181.172, subd. 3.
The city cannot retaliate against an employee for disclosing his/her own wages. An employee’s remedies under the Wage Disclosure Protection Law are to bring a civil action against the city and/or file a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry at 651-284-5070 or (800) 342-5354.