When an employee takes leave, the workload rarely disappears. The first reaction is often to spread the work among the remaining team. That can be reasonable for a short absence, but it can become expensive and difficult when the leave lasts for weeks or is taken intermittently.
Overtime is not only a payroll number. Repeated extra hours can affect fatigue, error rates, attendance, morale and retention. Supervisors can also lose productive time when they spend each week rebuilding schedules, finding volunteers, covering gaps and training people on unfamiliar tasks.
Employers should decide in advance how much overtime they are willing to use as a coverage strategy. Set a practical threshold by shift or department, identify which duties can be delayed, and define the point at which temporary capacity should be added.
Intermittent leave deserves special planning because the absence pattern may change. A flexible support worker, cross-trained backup, or part-time supplement can sometimes be more useful than trying to find an exact replacement for every missed hour.
The goal is not to eliminate overtime. It is to make overtime an intentional tool rather than the default answer to every absence.
Minnesota Paid Leave rules can change. Verify program requirements with Minnesota DEED, Minnesota DLI, and qualified legal, payroll or benefits advisers. MNPaid provides workforce-planning information, not legal advice.