The state of Minnesota is a pioneer in civil and human rights law, and has also been the site of several protest movements and times of civil unrest. The state enacted its first significant piece of human rights law in 1967, which is now known as the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA). The MHRA is one of the strongest pieces of civil rights law in the United States. The Act established the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) which works to enforce the civil rights of all Minnesotans and ensure compliance with the MHRA.
Minnesota Human Rights Act
The MHRA is the state’s primary human rights law that protects everyone in Minnesota from illegal discrimination, regardless of residency status. The law specifically protects against discrimination in the key areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, public services, education, credit, and business. Discrimination is illegal in these areas on the basis of belonging to one or more protected classes– a specific identity group protected under law.
Protected classes included in the MHRA include:
- Race
- Color
- Creed
- Religion
- National origin
- Sex
- Marital status
- Familial status
- Disability
- Public assistance
- Age
- Sexual orientation
- Local human rights commission activity
If you believe your rights have been violated under the MHRA, you can report discrimination here. See this chart to learn when and where the MHRA protects your rights and where it doesn’t.
Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR)
The MDHR is the state’s primary civil rights enforcement agency. The department has three main duties:
- Investigate charges of discrimination
- Issue Workforce and Equal Pay Certificates
- Educate to reduce discrimination and disparate outcomes
The Department has an Investigations Division, Legal Division, Mediation Division, Workforce & Equal Pay Certificate Division and Minneapolis Police Department Enforcement Division.
Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 by Minneapolis Police Department officers, the MDHR conducted a three year long investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department, and determined that the department engaged in racial discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act. In 2023, the MDHR reached a court-enforceable agreement with the department.
Outside of the MDHR, Minnesota also has several county and city-based local human rights commissions that work in collaboration with the state. See a map of all of them here.
Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights
The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights enforces the city laws that protect human rights. Their primary activities include: investigating discrimination, investigating police misconduct, enforcing the City's sick and safe time, minimum wage, and wage theft laws, and ensuring that City spending on City contracts is fair to workers and business owners. The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights has four divisions: Complaint Investigations, Contract Compliance, Labor Standards Enforcement, and the Office of Police Conduct Review.
Saint Paul Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity
Saint Paul also has its own Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO). HREEO’s mission is to “serve Saint Paul residents and businesses by advancing justice and equity through education, advocacy, and enforcement.” HREEO conducts human rights and discrimination investigations, monitors accessibility compliance, ensures language access, deals with allegations of police misconduct, enforces labor standards, and deals with claims of wage theft.
Timeline
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights highlights several significant events that strengthened and changed the human rights framework in Minnesota and many of them are summarized here.
1955
The Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) originally consisted of nine members from each congressional district who were appointed by the governor. The commission facilitated the state Fair Employment Practices Act of 1955 and created policies that would put the act into effect.
The FEPC had the jurisdiction to hire attorneys and to both issue and receive complaints regarding employment discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, or nationality. If a complaint could not be resolved through the board’s reconciliation facilitation efforts, the governor would be able to set up a three member board of review from the FEPC members, which could hold public hearings and decision making regarding the complaint.
1961
The scope of the commission was broadened to include issues of housing discrimination, and was renamed the State Commission against Discrimination (SCAD).
1967
The Minnesota State Act Against Discrimination was enacted and later renamed to the Minnesota Human Rights Act in 1973. This law initially forbade any discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, or nationality within the state, and was later expanded to include sex in 1969. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights was established in 1967 to uphold the State Act Against Discrimination and later the Human Rights Act. The department succeeded SCAD.
1973
Minnesota Human Rights Act was renamed and also widened to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status, or disability, to housing, public services, credit, and education, along with employment.
1974
The Criminal Offenders Rehabilitation Act provided restrictions regarding employment discrimination based on criminal history for government and specific licensing agencies.
1977
The prohibition of discrimination based on age was added to the Minnesota Human Rights Act, and discrimination based on pregnancy was clarified to fall under discrimination based on sex. This preceded the Federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which prohibited discrimination nationwide against workers who were or were intending to become pregnant.
1981
A statewide report written by the Council of the Economic Status of Women inspired legislation passed by the state in 1982, which required state employees regardless of gender to be compensated equally for dissimilar work of comparable value.
1983
Certain employers, government agencies, and all public transit operations were required to provide access and accommodations to disabled persons. 1989 saw the expansion of the definition of disability in state discrimination law from a physical or mental impairment having a “substantial” impact on a major to life activity, to include a “material” impact as well.
Sexual orientation, including gender identity, and marital status were both added as protected classes in state discrimination law in 1993 and 1994 respectively. State legislators had been working to protect sexual orientation in discrimination law since the establishment of the Human Rights Act in 1973.
2003
The Minnesota Human Rights Act was recodified into state law.
2009
Following campaigns in several other states, the “Ban the Box” law went into effect in Minnesota, making it illegal to ask questions or provide a check box regarding past criminal activity in hiring procedures for public employers.
2013
Governor Mark Dayton legalized same-sex marriages in Minnesota, two years prior to the federal legalization in 2015. Governor Dayton also expanded the “Ban the Box” law to apply to private employers as well.
2017
The Department of Human Rights established greater workforce participation goals for women state wide, and for communities of color in Greater Minnesota.
2020
Following the murder of George Floyd, the Department of Human Rights launched a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. The investigation was concluded in 2022, and the Department found the Minneapolis Police Department to be engaging in a pattern of racial discrimination that was in direct violation of the Human Rights Act. The Department and the City of Minneapolis came to an agreement in 2023 to address discriminatory policing practices, following months of negotiations.
2023
Governor Tim Walz signed the Take Pride, Preventing Pay Discrimination, and CROWN acts into law. These each strengthened protections for LGBTQ+ Minnesotans, forbade employers from asking applicants about their pay history, and protected against discrimination based on race-based natural hair styles respectively.
2024
The Minnesota Human Rights Act was amended to expand the protected class definitions of disability and familial status.