Missourians vote to increase minimum wage, require paid sick leave

By Clara Bates

Missouri Independent

An effort to hike the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and guarantee paid sick leave won the support of Missouri voters Tuesday night.

Proposition A was approved by Missouri voters 58% to 41%.

(Photo- Daniel Tucker, a leader with the Missouri Workers Center, teaches chants customized to an initiative petition to raise the minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave outside of the Secretary of State’s office building in Jefferson City in May- Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).

The approval follows a trend of Missourians using the initiative petition process to increase the minimum wage — and more broadly, of Missourians using that process to advance policies at odds with the beliefs of the state’s Republican dominated legislature.

Proposition A was backed by various unions and workers’ advocacy groups, social justice and civil rights organizations, over 500 state business owners and others.

Some business groups, including the state Chamber of Commerce, have opposed it, especially the guaranteed sick leave portion. But there wasn’t a coordinated opposition campaign.

The campaign in favor of the measure, called Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages, raised nearly $6 million — including from out-of-state groups that don’t disclose their donors — and collected 210,000 signatures to have the issue placed on the statewide ballot.

The current minimum wage in Missouri is $12.30, which is equivalent to $492 per week, before taxes. The ballot measure would raise the state’s minimum wage to $13.75 next year and $15 in January 2026.

The increase would affect over 562,000 workers in the state, according to the Missouri Budget Project, or nearly 1 in 4 workers. The minimum wage would be adjusted based on inflation every year after 2026.

Voters approved a minimum-wage hike in 2006, with 75% of the vote, and again in 2018, with 62% of the vote.

And businesses will be required to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to five days per year for small businesses and seven days per year for larger businesses. Small businesses are those with fewer than 15 employees.

The paid sick time provision will go into effect on May 1, 2025.

Without sick leave, proponents argue, workers have to choose between their financial and physical wellbeing — going into work sick or losing out on a needed paycheck.

Missouri will join 15 states that require employers to provide paid sick leave. The United States, unlike nearly every other country, lacks federal paid sick leave, so states, as well as cities, have taken the lead.

Some business groups raised alarm particularly with the sick leave provisions, saying the proposal constitutes government overreach in what should be the decisions of business owners.

At the same time, a coalition of hundreds of businesspeople in the state have signed on to support the ballot measure, arguing the policies help their bottom line, causing lower employee turnover, increased productivity and better health and safety conditions.

The ballot measure would change the state law but not the constitution, meaning the legislature could overturn it, but those on both sides of the issue told The Independent last month they see that as unlikely.