Missouri paid sick leave is not currently required by state law. Voters approved Proposition A in November 2024, which created a statewide paid sick leave mandate effective May 1, 2025, but the legislature repealed that mandate through HB 567, signed by Governor Kehoe on July 10, 2025 and effective August 28, 2025.1Office of the Governor. Governor Kehoe Signs Bold Tax Cuts and Pro-Business Legislation Into Law Employers may still offer paid sick leave voluntarily, and many do, but no state law forces them to. What you’re entitled to now depends on your employer’s own written policy and any federal protections that apply to your job.
What Changed and When
The timeline matters because it explains why some Missouri employers have paid sick leave policies on the books today and others don’t. Proposition A took effect on May 1, 2025 and required every private employer in the state to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee worked. Employees at businesses with 15 or more workers could use up to 56 hours a year; at smaller employers the cap was 40 hours.2Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 290.603 – Paid Sick Leave Required, When
The mandate lasted about four months. HB 567 passed both chambers, and because it carried no emergency clause, it took effect 90 days after the Governor signed it, on August 28, 2025.3Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. When Do Employees Stop Earning Paid Sick Time Due to the Passage of HB 567 From May 1 through August 28, 2025, employers were legally required to provide paid sick leave. After August 28, the obligation ended.
The Missouri Supreme Court had upheld Proposition A against legal challenges in April 2025, ruling that the initiative was validly enacted. That decision did not stop the legislature from repealing the statute afterward. Missouri’s constitution lets the legislature amend or repeal voter-approved statutes by a simple majority, and that is what happened here.
The state’s own guidance now confirms the shift. The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations states that employers may continue to offer paid sick time after August 28, 2025 if they choose, but are no longer required to.3Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. When Do Employees Stop Earning Paid Sick Time Due to the Passage of HB 567
If Your Employer Offers Paid Sick Leave Voluntarily
Plenty of Missouri employers, particularly larger companies, still offer paid sick leave as a workplace benefit. Some kept the Proposition A framework because it was already built into their payroll systems. Others rolled it back once the mandate ended. A few never had a policy at all.
When your employer has a sick leave policy, that policy becomes an enforceable term of your employment. The written terms in your employee handbook, offer letter, or employment contract control how much leave you earn, when you can use it, whether unused time carries over, and what happens when you leave the company. If your employer promises paid sick leave and then refuses to pay it, that can support a wage claim under Missouri’s existing wage payment laws.
Ask HR for a current, written copy of the sick leave policy if you’re not sure where things stand. That document, not any state law, now defines what you’re owed. If your employer originally adopted a Prop A-style policy during the mandate period, confirm whether it has been formally revoked, kept, or modified.
Federal Leave Protections That Still Apply
The repeal of Missouri’s paid sick leave law does not touch federal leave rights, which continue to operate the same way they did before.
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for qualifying reasons: your own serious health condition, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, or bonding with a new child. FMLA applies to employers with 50 or more employees and covers workers who have been employed for at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours in the previous year.
FMLA leave is unpaid by default. If your employer offers paid sick leave or vacation time, either you or your employer can require that paid time be used at the same time as FMLA leave, so the leave remains job-protected and you also get a paycheck for it.4U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions The time still counts against your 12-week FMLA entitlement.
The Americans with Disabilities Act can also come into play. If you have a disability, your employer may be required to provide reasonable accommodations, which can include a modified schedule or unpaid leave beyond what a standard sick policy allows. ADA coverage starts at 15 employees.
Confidentiality of Medical Notes You Turn In
Whether your employer requires sick leave or offers it voluntarily, any medical documentation you hand over triggers confidentiality obligations under federal law. The ADA requires employers to store medical records separately from general personnel files. A doctor’s note submitted for a sick absence, an FMLA medical certification, or any document mentioning a diagnosis or treatment must go into a restricted-access medical file. Supervisors can see that you took approved leave; they cannot access the underlying medical details.
This protection applies regardless of Missouri’s paid sick leave status. If your employer asks for a doctor’s note and then drops it into your regular personnel file, that is a federal ADA problem, not a state sick leave problem.
What to Do if You Have No Paid Sick Leave
With no state mandate, plenty of Missouri workers, especially in lower-wage jobs at smaller employers, have no paid sick leave at all. A few practical options:
- Negotiate at hiring. Paid sick leave is a standard item in offer negotiations, even for hourly positions at mid-sized employers. Asking costs nothing.
- Check for local ordinances. No Missouri city currently has an enforceable paid sick leave ordinance, but this is an area of active political discussion, so verify your city’s current rules.
- Use FMLA if you’re eligible. For serious health conditions, it gives you unpaid but job-protected leave at employers with 50 or more workers.
- Review your employer’s PTO policy. Some employers bundle sick leave into a general paid time off bank rather than labeling it separately, so you may have coverage without realizing it.
- Document everything. If you’re disciplined or fired for being sick and your employer has a written sick leave policy, you may have a breach-of-contract or wrongful termination claim even without a state mandate behind you.
Missouri’s paid sick leave picture shifted quickly between 2024 and 2025, and the practical answer for workers today is simple: request a current copy of your employer’s leave policy in writing, and read it carefully. That policy, plus FMLA and ADA where they apply, is what you have to work with.