268B.29 SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE GRANTS.

(a) Employers with 30 or fewer employees and less than $3,000,000 in gross annual revenues may apply to the department for grants under this section.

(b) The commissioner may approve a grant of up to $3,000 if the employer hires a temporary worker, or increases another existing worker's wages, to substitute for an employee on family or medical leave for a period of seven days or more.

(c) The maximum total grant per eligible employer in a calendar year is $6,000.

(d) Grants must be used to hire temporary workers or to increase wages for current employees. To be eligible for consideration for a grant under this section, the employer must documentation attest, in a manner and format prescribed by the commissioner, that:

(1) the temporary worker hired or wage-related costs incurred are due to an employee's use of leave under this chapter;

(2) the amount of the grant requested is less than or equal to the additional costs incurred by the employer; and

(3) the employer meets the revenue requirements in paragraph (a).

(e) Applications shall be processed on a first-received, first-processed basis within each calendar year until funding is exhausted. Applications received after funding has been exhausted in a calendar year are not eligible for reimbursement.

(f) For the purposes of this section, the commissioner shall average the number of employees reported by an employer over the last four completed calendar quarters as submitted in the wage detail records required in section 268B.12 to determine the size of the employer.

(g) An employer who has an approved private plan is not eligible to receive a grant under this section.

(h) Unless additional funds are appropriated, the commissioner may award grants under this section up to a maximum of $5,000,000 per calendar year from the family and medical benefit insurance account.