Minnesota Legislature
2023-2024 Regular Session
Contractors working at oil refineries must abide by new safety standards
Workplace training requirements will be modified for third-party contractor employees working at Minnesota’s two oil refineries.
Contracts entered, extended, or renewed on or after Jan. 1, 2024, between refineries and contractors will require that a percentage of workers be graduates of, or apprentices in, a registered apprenticeship program. The requirements will be phased in over time so:
• 30% of a contractor’s workforce must qualify as “skilled and trained” by Jan. 1, 2024;
• 45% by Jan. 1, 2025; and
• 60% by Jan. 1, 2026.
Per the new law, a "skilled and trained workforce" is one “in which each employee of the contractor or subcontractor of any tier working at the site of the petroleum refinery in an apprenticeable occupation in the building and construction trades meets one of the following criteria:
(1) is currently registered as an apprentice in a registered apprenticeship program in the applicable trade;
(2) has graduated from a registered apprenticeship program in the applicable trade;
(3) has completed all of the related instruction and on-the-job learning requirements needed to graduate from the registered apprenticeship program their employer participates in; or
(4) has at least five years of experience working in the applicable trade and is currently participating in journeyworker upgrade training in a registered apprenticeship program in the applicable trade or has completed any training identified as necessary by the registered apprenticeship training program for the employee to become a qualified journeyworker in the applicable trade.”
Previously existing contracts must be renegotiated to comply by Jan. 1, 2025. Companies can be fined between $5,000 and $10,000 per violation.
Exemptions are provided for, such as if a good faith search by a union to find qualified workers for a contractor comes up empty or an emergency necessitates immediate action by whomever is working at the refinery.
Rep. Dave Lislegard (DFL-Aurora) and Sen. Judy Seeberger (DFL-Afton) sponsor the law.
HF10/SF10*/CH30