Minnesota Session Laws - 1984, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1984 

                        CHAPTER 608-S.F.No. 1563
           An act relating to labor; permitting the practice of 
          dentistry under supervision of a licensed dentist; 
          clarifying child labor penalties; removing the 
          exemption for certain individuals from unfair 
          discriminatory practices; extending the statute of 
          limitation on certain actions to recover wages or 
          overtime; removing food service workers from School 
          District No. 709 civil service; amending Minnesota 
          Statutes 1982, section 541.07; Minnesota Statutes 1983 
          Supplement, sections 150A.08, subdivision 8; 181A.12, 
          subdivision 1; and 363.02, subdivision 1; and Laws 
          1967, chapter 252, section 2, as amended. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1983 Supplement, section 
150A.08, subdivision 8, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 8.  [SUSPENSION OF LICENSE.] In addition to any other 
remedy provided by law, the board may, through its designated 
board members pursuant to section 214.10, subdivision 2, 
temporarily suspend a license or registration without a hearing 
if the board finds that the licensee or registrant has violated 
a statute or rule which the board is empowered to enforce and 
continued practice by the licensee or registrant would create an 
imminent risk of harm to others.  The suspension shall take 
effect upon written notice to the licensee or registrant served 
by first class mail specifying the statute or rule violated, and 
the time, date, and place of the hearing before the board.  If 
the notice is returned by the post office, the notice shall be 
effective upon reasonable attempts to locate and serve the 
licensee or registrant.  Within ten days of service of the 
notice, the board shall hold a hearing before its own members on 
the sole issue of whether there is a reasonable basis to 
continue, modify, or lift the suspension.  Evidence presented by 
the board, licensee, or registrant, shall be in affidavit form 
only.  The licensee or registrant or his counsel may appear for 
oral argument.  Within five working days after the hearing, the 
board shall issue its order and, if the suspension is continued, 
the board shall schedule a disciplinary hearing to be held 
pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act within 45 days of 
issuance of the order.  The hearing examiner shall issue a 
report within 30 days of the closing of the contested case 
hearing record.  The board shall issue a final order within 30 
days of receiving that report.  The board may allow a person who 
was licensed by any state to practice dentistry and whose 
license has been suspended to practice dentistry under the 
supervision of a licensed dentist for the purpose of 
demonstrating his or her competence and eligibility for 
reinstatement.  
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1983 Supplement, section 
181A.12, subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [FINES; PENALTY.] Any employer who hinders 
or delays the department or its authorized representative in the 
performance of its duties under sections 181A.01 to 181A.12 or 
refuses to admit the commissioner or his authorized 
representative to any place of employment or refuses to make 
certificates or lists available as required by sections 181A.01 
to 181A.12, or otherwise violates any provisions of sections 
181A.01 to 181A.12 or any rules issued pursuant thereto shall be 
assessed a fine to be paid to the commissioner for deposit in 
the general fund.  The fine may be recovered in a civil action 
in the name of the department brought in the district court of 
the county where the violation is alleged to have occurred or 
the district court where the commissioner has an office.  Fines 
are in the amounts as follows:  
     (a) employment of minors under the age of 14           
         (each employee)                                   $ 50 
     (b) employment of minors under the age of 16               
         during school hours while school is in session       
         (each employee)                                     50 
     (c) employment of minors under the age of 16               
         before 7:00 a.m. (each employee)                    50 
     (d) employment of minors under the age of 16               
         after 9:30 p.m. (each employee)                     50 
     (e) employment of minors under the age of 16               
         over eight hours a day (each employee)              50 
     (f) employment of minors under the age of 16               
         over 40 hours a week (each employee)                50 
     (g) employment of minors under the age of 18               
         in hazardous occupations (each employee)           100 
     (h) employment of minors under the age of 16               
         in hazardous occupations (each employee)           100 
     (i) minors under the age of 18 injured in                  
         hazardous employment (each employee)               500 
     (j) minors employed without proof of age                   
         (each employee)                                      5 
     An employer who refuses to make certificates or lists 
available as required by sections 181A.01 to 181A.12 shall be 
assessed a $500 fine. 
    An employer who engages in a consistent and repeated 
pattern of violations of sections 181A.01 to 181A.12 is also 
guilty of a gross misdemeanor. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1983 Supplement, section 
363.02, subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [EMPLOYMENT.] The provisions of section 
363.03, subdivision 1, shall not apply to: 
    (1) The employment of any individual 
    (a) by his parent, grandparent, spouse, child, or 
grandchild, or 
    (b) in the domestic service of any person; 
    (2) A religious or fraternal corporation, association, or 
society, with respect to qualifications based on religion, when 
religion shall be a bona fide occupational qualification for 
employment; 
    (3) The employment of one person in place of another, 
standing by itself, shall not be evidence of an unfair 
discriminatory practice; 
    (4) An age restriction applied uniformly and without 
exception to all individuals established by a bona fide 
apprenticeship program established pursuant to chapter 178, 
which limits participation to persons who enter the program 
prior to some specified age and the trade involved in the 
program predominantly involves heavy physical labor or work on 
high structures.  After January 1, 1984, these age restrictions 
are exempt from the provisions of section 363.03, subdivision 1 
only to the extent that they are declared exempt in rules 
adopted by the commissioner according to chapter 14.  The 

commissioner must adopt rules governing this subject before 
January 1, 1984, and is authorized to adopt temporary, as well 
as permanent rules for this purpose.  Neither shall The 
operation of a bona fide seniority system which mandates 
differences in such things as wages, hiring priorities, lay-off 
priorities, vacation credit, and job assignments based on 
seniority, be a violation of the age discrimination provisions 
of section 363.03, subdivision 1, so long as the operation of 
the system is not a subterfuge to evade the provisions of 
chapter 363;  
    (5) With respect to age discrimination, a practice by which 
a labor organization or employer offers or supplies varying 
insurance benefits or other fringe benefits to members or 
employees of differing ages, so long as the cost to the labor 
organization or employer for the benefits is reasonably 
equivalent for all members or employees;  
    (6) A restriction imposed by state statute, home rule 
charter, ordinance, or civil service rule, and applied uniformly 
and without exception to all individuals, which establishes a 
maximum age for entry into employment as a peace officer or 
firefighter.  
    (7) Nothing in this chapter concerning age discrimination 
shall be construed to validate or permit age requirements which 
have a disproportionate impact on persons of any class otherwise 
protected by section 363.03, subdivision 1 or 5. 
     It is not an unfair employment practice for an employer, 
employment agency or labor organization: 
     (i) to require or request a person to undergo physical 
examination, which may include a medical history, for the 
purpose of determining the person's capability to perform 
available employment, provided (a) that an offer of employment 
has been made on condition that the person meets the physical or 
mental requirements of the job; (b) that the examination tests 
only for essential job-related abilities; and (c) that the 
examination, unless limited to determining whether the person's 
disability would prevent performance of the job, is required of 
all persons conditionally offered employment for the same 
position regardless of disability; or 
     (ii) with the consent of the employee, to obtain additional 
medical information for the purposes of establishing an employee 
health record;  
     (iii) to administer pre-employment tests, provided that the 
tests (a) measure only essential job-related abilities, (b) are 
required of all applicants for the same position regardless of 
disability unless limited to determining whether the person's 
disability would prevent performance of the job, and (c) 
accurately measure the applicant's aptitude, achievement level, 
or whatever factors they purport to measure rather than 
reflecting the applicant's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking 
skills, except when those skills are the factors that the tests 
purport to measure; or 
     (iv) to limit receipt of benefits payable under a fringe 
benefit plan for disabilities to that period of time which a 
licensed physician reasonably determines a person is unable to 
work; or 
     (v) to provide special safety considerations for pregnant 
women involved in tasks which are potentially hazardous to the 
health of the unborn child, as determined by medical criteria. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 541.07, is 
amended to read: 
    541.07 [TWO OR THREE YEAR LIMITATIONS.] 
    Except where the uniform commercial code or this section 
otherwise prescribes, the following actions shall be commenced 
within two years: 
    (1) For libel, slander, assault, battery, false 
imprisonment, or other tort, resulting in personal injury, and 
all actions against physicians, surgeons, dentists, other health 
care professionals as defined in section 145.61, and 
veterinarians as defined in chapter 156, hospitals, sanatoriums, 
for malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure, whether 
based on contract or tort; provided a counter-claim may be 
pleaded as a defense to any action for services brought by a 
physician, surgeon, dentist or other health care professional or 
veterinarian, hospital or sanatorium, after the limitations 
herein described notwithstanding it is barred by the provisions 
of this chapter, if it was the property of the party pleading it 
at the time it became barred and was not barred at the time the 
claim sued on originated, but no judgment thereof except for 
costs can be rendered in favor of the party so pleading it; 
    (2) Upon a statute for a penalty or forfeiture; 
    (3) For damages caused by a dam, other than a dam used for 
commercial purposes; but as against one holding under the 
pre-emption or homestead laws, the limitations shall not begin 
to run until a patent has been issued for the land so damaged; 
    (4) Against a master for breach of an indenture of 
apprenticeship; the limitation runs from the expiration of the 
term of service; 
    (5) For the recovery of wages or overtime or damages, fees 
or penalties accruing under any federal or state law respecting 
the payment of wages or overtime or damages, fees or penalties 
except, that if the employer fails to submit payroll records by 
a specified date upon request of the department of labor and 
industry or if the nonpayment is willful and not the result of 
mistake or inadvertence, the limitation is three years.  (The 
term "wages"  means all remuneration for services or employment, 
including commissions and bonuses and the cash value of all 
remuneration in any medium other than cash, where the 
relationship of master and servant exists and the term 
"damages,"  means single, double, or treble damages, accorded by 
any statutory cause of action whatsoever and whether or not the 
relationship of master and servant exists); 
    (6) For damages caused by the establishment of a street or 
highway grade or a change in the originally established grade; 
    (7) For sales or use taxes imposed by the laws of any other 
state; 
    (8) Against the person who applies the pesticide for injury 
or damage to property resulting from the application, but not 
the manufacture or sale, of a pesticide. 
    Sec. 5.  Laws 1967, chapter 252, section 2, as amended by 
Laws 1971, chapter 683, section 1, and Laws 1983, chapter 161, 
section 1, is amended to read:  
    Sec. 2.  [INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 709; EMPLOYEES; 
EXCEPTIONS.] The term "employees," as used in this act, shall 
not include members of the school board, superintendent of 
schools, assistant superintendents of schools, teachers, other 
employees of the school district whose positions require them to 
be certified pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the 
state board of education, directors, administrative assistants, 
clerical or similar workers, food service workers, deputy clerk 
and purchasing agent, supervisors, advisors, coordinators, 
physicians, attorney, nurses, and temporary employees.  
    Sec. 6.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Section 5 is effective upon compliance with Minnesota 
Statutes, section 645.021. 
    Approved May 2, 1984