Missouri leave of absence laws are a mix of federal statutes and a handful of state rules that together protect your job when you need time off for medical, family, civic, or military reasons. Missouri has no broad state family leave law and no state-mandated paid sick leave, so federal protections like the FMLA, USERRA, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and the PUMP Act do most of the heavy lifting, with Missouri statutes layering on protections for voting, jury duty, crime victims, military service, and victims of domestic or sexual violence.
Family and Medical Leave Under the FMLA
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act is the main source of job-protected medical and family leave for Missouri workers. It covers every public agency regardless of size and private companies that employed 50 or more people during at least 20 workweeks in the current or prior calendar year. You personally become eligible once you have worked for that employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours during those 12 months, and work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles.1U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #28: The Family and Medical Leave Act
If you qualify, you can take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for any of the following:
- The birth of your child and bonding, or placement of a child through adoption or foster care.
- Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition. In-laws are not covered.
- Your own serious health condition that makes you unable to perform your job.
- A qualifying exigency arising from a spouse, child, or parent’s covered active military duty, such as short-notice deployment arrangements, financial and legal planning, childcare adjustments, or attending military events.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #28M(c): Qualifying Exigency Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
A separate FMLA provision gives up to 26 workweeks of unpaid leave in a single 12-month period if you are the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of a current service member recovering from a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 2612 – Leave Requirement That 26 weeks is a combined ceiling that includes any other FMLA leave you take during the same period, not an additional allotment on top of the standard 12.4U.S. Department of Labor. Military Caregiver Leave for a Current Servicemember Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
Intermittent Leave
FMLA leave does not have to be taken in one block. When medically necessary, you can take it in smaller increments or on a reduced weekly schedule for your own serious health condition or to care for a family member. Your employer can require a medical certification supporting the need and may ask for recertification on a reasonable basis.5U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA: Forms Intermittent leave for a child’s birth or placement requires employer approval.
Returning to Your Job
When you come back from FMLA leave, your employer must restore you to the same position or an equivalent one with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions, and must maintain your group health insurance throughout the leave on the same terms as if you had still been working.6U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) If your employer refuses reinstatement or retaliates against you, you can file with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division or sue to recover lost wages and benefits.
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Nursing
Two newer federal laws expand what pregnant and postpartum workers can expect from Missouri employers, independent of FMLA.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act applies to employers with 15 or more employees and requires reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation would be an undue hardship.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 2000gg-1 – Nondiscrimination With Regard to Reasonable Accommodations Related to Pregnancy Accommodations can include schedule changes, lighter duties, extra breaks, or temporary leave to recover from childbirth. A critical limit: your employer cannot push you onto leave if some other accommodation would let you keep working.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act requires employers to provide reasonable break time to express breast milk for up to one year after your child’s birth, along with a private space that is not a bathroom, shielded from view, and free from intrusion.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 218d – Lactation Accommodation Requirements It covers nearly all employees, including salaried workers who are otherwise exempt from overtime rules.
Paid Sick Leave Is No Longer Required
Missouri voters approved Proposition A in November 2024, which created a paid sick leave accrual mandate that took effect May 1, 2025.10Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 290.603 – Earned Paid Sick Time The legislature repealed that mandate later in the summer of 2025, and the repeal took effect in August 2025. Missouri currently has no state-mandated paid sick leave for private-sector workers.
Some Missouri employers still offer paid sick time voluntarily or through a collective bargaining agreement. A written sick leave policy is enforceable as part of your employment contract, but no state law forces employers to create one. For an extended health absence, FMLA may protect your job even though it does not pay you.
Time Off to Vote
Missouri gives every employee three hours off work to vote on election day, but only if your work schedule does not already leave you three consecutive non-working hours while the polls are open.11Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 115.639 – Three Hours Off Work to Vote, Interference by Employer a Class Four Offense A 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift with polls closing at 7 p.m., for example, qualifies because you have no three-hour window outside work.
You have to request the time before election day, not the morning of. Your employer picks which three-hour window you take, so the most convenient slot is not guaranteed. If you actually use the time to vote, your pay cannot be docked. An employer who interferes commits a class four election offense, punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.12Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 115.637 – Election Offenses, Penalties
Jury Duty and Court Appearances
Missouri law prohibits employers from firing, disciplining, or threatening any employee for receiving or responding to a jury summons.13Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 494.460 – Employers Prohibited From Disciplining Employees Because of Jury Duty The protection covers receiving the summons and reporting, not just the days you sit as a juror. Private employers are not required to pay you during jury service, though many do.
If you are fired for serving, you have 90 days to file a civil lawsuit. A successful claim can recover lost wages, other damages, reinstatement, and reasonable attorney’s fees. The 90-day window is short, so moving quickly matters.
Separate protections apply if you are a crime victim, a member of a victim’s immediate family, or a witness subpoenaed in a criminal case. Your employer cannot fire or discipline you for honoring a subpoena, attending a criminal proceeding, or helping prosecutors prepare for trial, and cannot force you to burn vacation, personal, or sick time for those absences.14Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 595.209 – Rights of Crime Victims
Military Service Leave
The federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act applies to essentially all employers regardless of size. USERRA guarantees that employees who leave for active duty, training, National Guard duty, or reserve obligations can return to their civilian jobs with the seniority, pay, and benefits they would have earned had they never left.15U.S. Department of Labor. A Guide to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act The cumulative absence limit for USERRA protection is five years with the same employer, though many categories of involuntary service do not count against that cap.
State and local government employees in Missouri who serve in the National Guard or a reserve component of the Armed Forces receive up to 120 hours of paid military leave per federal fiscal year (October 1 through September 30). During that paid leave, you keep your regular pay, benefits, efficiency ratings, and seniority as if you never left.16Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 105.270 – Leave of Absence to Perform Military Duties Mandatory For state-ordered active duty at the governor’s call, there is no cap on paid leave duration. The 120-hour limit applies only to federal service.
Missouri also extends reemployment protections to members of the state military forces called to active state duty by the governor. When your state service ends, your employer must reinstate you with the seniority and status you would have accumulated during the absence.17Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 40.490 – Reemployment Rights of Persons Ordered to Active Duty
Leave for Victims of Domestic or Sexual Violence
Missouri’s Victims Economic Safety and Security Act (VESSA) lets employees who are victims of domestic or sexual violence, or whose family members are victims, take unpaid leave to handle the aftermath. The law covers employers with at least 20 employees.18Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 285.625 – Definitions
How much leave you get depends on employer size. At employers with 50 or more employees, you are entitled to up to two workweeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period. At employers with 20 to 49 employees, the entitlement is one workweek.19Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 285.630 – Unpaid Leave Provided, When
VESSA leave can be used for medical treatment or recovery from injuries caused by the violence, victim services and counseling, safety planning such as relocating or changing locks, and legal proceedings including seeking a protective order or meeting with a prosecutor.
You must give your employer at least 48 hours’ notice before taking VESSA leave, unless advance notice is impractical. Your employer may ask for supporting documentation such as a police report, court record, or statement from a medical professional or victim advocate, and anything you provide must be kept confidential.
Bereavement Leave
Neither federal nor Missouri law requires private employers to provide bereavement leave, and a family member’s death is not on its own a qualifying FMLA reason. If grief triggers a diagnosed condition like clinical depression or anxiety that rises to the level of a serious health condition, FMLA can apply to your own treatment. Many employers voluntarily offer a few days of paid bereavement leave through company policy or a collective bargaining agreement, and any written policy is enforceable as a contractual commitment even though no statute requires it.