Medtronic Executive’s Telework Tests Minnesota’s ‘Employee’ Rule

Medtronic USA Inc. and a fired senior director sparred in court Wednesday over the need to physically work in Minnesota to sue under state’s job bias law, with the Eighth Circuit poised to decide where to draw the line on who meets its definition of “employee.”

A decision on the worker’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling could set the template for the state’s courts to use in subsequent cases to determine a worker’s status as an employee under the Minnesota Human Rights Act. That question has taken on increasing importance with the influx of remote-work arrangements and is one ...