Changes are coming to Missouri’s Proposition A, which provides minimum requirements for earning paid sick time, goes into effect May 1. The passage of Proposition A allows eligible employees in Missouri to accrue a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, with certain employees excluded from this coverage.
Limits on Paid Sick Leave
A Lexology blog recommends employers with existing paid leave policies review their current policies and consult counsel to ensure they understand and comply with all new requirements.
- Employers with leave policies that meet the minimum requirement of the law are not required to provide employees with additional time off.
- 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 leave annually, according to the new law.
- Those engaged in educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit activities; people 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 are excluded from Proposition A.
Accrual, Payout and Carryover
The new law may also affect accrual, frontloading and carryover of paid time off. Employers have the choice to provide paid sick time as it is accrued or to frontload the paid sick time at the beginning of the year. Depending on the policy for carrying over paid sick time, an employer may still limit an employee to using no more than the applicable annual use cap.
If an employer chooses to pay an employee for earned but unused paid sick time instead of carrying over the time, it must provide the employee with an amount of paid sick time that meets or exceeds the requirements of the statute for immediate use at the beginning of the year.
Documenting Time
For use of earned paid sick time of at least three consecutive workdays, an employer may require “reasonable documentation” to confirm the need for the time. Employers may not require the documentation explain the nature of any illness, details of underlying health needs, or details of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, unless otherwise required by law. Employers may not require the employee to find a replacement worker to cover the hours during which they will be absent.
Earned paid sick time may be used in the smallest increment the employer’s payroll system uses to account for absences or use of other time.
Providing Notice and Keeping Record
Now is the time to update policies and to create written communication about Proposition A. This information must be given to employees within 14 calendar days of the commencement of employment or on April 15, 2025, whichever is later. The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is expected to publish a model notice and poster.
