Missouri voters approved Proposition A, enacting a new state-wide paid sick leave law beginning on May 1, 2025, barring any legal challenges or issues with certification of the official results by Dec. 10, 2024. Who is Eligible for Paid Sick Time? The new law applies to all private employers in Missouri.
However, certain employees are excluded from coverage, including those engaged in educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit activities; persons standing in loco parentis to foster children in their care; employees in retail or service businesses with annual gross sales below $500,000; and incarcerated criminal offenders. Accrual, Frontloading, Carryover Beginning May 1, 2025, eligible employees will accrue a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers with at least 15 employees may limit employees to using 56 hours of paid sick time each year.
All other employers may limit employees to using 40 hours of paid sick time annually. Employers may provide paid sick time as it is accrued or frontload all the earned paid sick time that an employee is expected to accrue in a year at the beginning of the year. At the end of a year, generally, employers must allow employees to carry up to 80 hours of unused earned paid sick time to the next year.
Employers who chose the carryover option may still limit an employee to using no more than the applicable annual use cap. Alternatively, the employer may pay an employee for unused earned paid sick time bu.