On November 5, 2024, Missouri voters passed Proposition A, a ballot initiative that will both increase the State’s minimum wage and provide workers paid sick leave. Those voting in favor totaled nearly 60% of the votes cast.
Minimum Wage
As of January 1, 2025, the minimum wage in Missouri will increase to $13.75 per hour from its current $12.30 per hour rate. Pursuant to the initiative, the minimum wage will again increase on January 1, 2026 to $15 per hour. It will then be adjusted in future years for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index.
Paid Sick Leave
On the issue of paid sick leave, Missouri becomes the 18th state in the U.S. to require employers provide paid sick leave. Some key provisions of the law include:
- Qualified employees accumulate 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Salaried employees who are exempt from overtime are presumed to work 40 hours in each week worked, unless their normal work week is fewer hours.
- Paid sick leave begins to accumulate at the beginning of employment.
- Employees who work for employers with 15 or more employees can accumulate up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year and employees who work for employees with fewer than 15 employees can accumulate up to 40 hours of paid sick leave each year.
- The employer has the option of allowing sick leave to be used as it is accumulated or providing employees the full amount of paid sick leave the employee is expected to accumulate over the course of the year at the beginning of the year.
- Up to 80 hours of earned paid sick time can be carried over from one year to the next. However, an employer need not allow an employee to use any more paid sick leave in a single year than the amount of hours that can be earned in a single year. Employers can choose to pay an employee for unused paid sick leave in lieu of carrying the time over from year to year.
- Paid sick leave can be used for several reasons, including:
- The employee’s own illness, injury, health condition or doctor’s appointments;
- To care for a family member with an illness, injury or health condition;
- Closures of the employee’s place of employment due to a public health emergency; or
- Absence caused by domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking (for qualified reasons).
- Paid sick leave can be used in either hourly increments or the smallest time increment the employer’s payroll system uses to account for absences or other uses of time, whichever is smaller.
Employers with sick leave or paid time off policies that make available an equal or greater amount of paid leave may be used in place of the new law’s requirements. An employer is not required to provide additional paid sick leave if its existing policies already suffice.
The new law provides that an employer may not take action to interfere with or prevent an employee from taking any of the paid sick leave to which the employee is entitled. Additionally, an employer cannot retaliate against an employee for using paid sick leave. The law creates a right to pursue civil lawsuits against employers alleged to have violated the law and provides for the recovery of the unpaid sick leave, actual damages, liquidated damages (equal to 2x unpaid earned paid sick leave) and attorneys’ fees.
The Paid Sick Leave law becomes effective on May 1, 2025. Employers will be required to provide existing employees notice of the new law by no later than April 15, 2025. New employees must receive notice of the law within 14 days of starting employment. Employers are required to give employees notice of: the paid sick leave accrual rate, the employer’s prohibition from taking action against an employee for exercising his/her rights under the law, the right to bring a civil action for violation of the law, and contact information for the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Department is expected to create revised posters containing information about the new law.
