Voter-Approved Sick Leave Goes Into Effect
On May 1, the voter-approved earned sick time law went into effect! Details of the law can be found at MoWorkersRights.org
Over two years after launching the campaign, a year to the day that we turned in 210,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot, and nearly six months after voters gave their approval by an overwhelming 15-point majority, EARNED SICK TIME IS IN EFFECT FOR MISSOURI WORKERS!!!!!
A last-ditch effort by corporate interests to derail the voter-approved initiative failed when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled strongly against a (ironically disingenuous) lawsuit filed by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce claiming the initiative should be tossed because it raised the minimum wage AND provided earned sick time in the same proposal.
When the law went into effect yesterday (May 1), 728,000 Missouri workers who were not protected by any sort of sick leave policy started accruing sick time. Workers will earn 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. For an informative breakdown of workers’ rights under the new sick leave law (and regarding the minimum wage), you can go to Jobs with Justice and the Missouri Workers Center’s joint website here.
As has been covered extensively over the law for several weeks, the Republican Super Majority continues to try and undo the will of the voters in their effort to pass HB 567 and gut earned sick time. Pro-labor Democrats will continue to filibuster in the Senate, with the next two weeks of session being the final piece of the multi-year gauntlet for this worker-led, worker-passed ballot initiative.
