As Connecticut lawmakers voted last year to expand the state’s paid sick leave policy to nearly all workers, state officials in Missouri overturned a similar law even after it passed with strong support from voters.
In 2024, Connecticut expanded its existing law requiring employers with more than 50 employees in retail and service positions to provide staff with up to 40 hours of paid sick leave each year. The new policy broadened the benefit to most industries and lowered the threshold for coverage. Beginning this year, employers with 25+ staff members will be expected to offer leave, followed by those with 11 or more employees in 2026 and all businesses by 2027.
The expansion also now allows workers to use paid sick leave to care for loved ones other than just immediate children. Under the law, for every 30 hours of work performed by an employee, they’ll earn an hour of paid sick leave, with a maximum of 40 hours per year.
In other states, residents and workers haven’t been so lucky.
In 2024, the New Republic reported, Missouri voters elected Governor Mike Kehoe, a Republican who received about 1.75 million votes. Also on the ballot last year: an expansion of Missouri’s paid sick leave program. The proposal, which passed with 58% of the vote and received 1.69 million votes, would have provided an hour of sick time to workers for every 30 hours worked, with up to seven days of sick leave accessible per year.
While the law went into effect in Missouri in May, it will not survive the summer. Kehoe and the Missouri state legislature worked to repeal the policy, also striking down a measure that would tie minimum wage adjustments to inflation in future years after it increased to $15, the Associated Press reported.
Connecticut raised the minimum wage in 2019, imposing several steps to gradually increase it to $15. Since it hit that mark, the minimum wage has since been tied to inflation; it’s currently $16.35 per hour.
Kehoe claimed while signing the law that he was protecting “job creators and small business owners” by repealing the policy. The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated that repealing the law was its top priority in 2025.
Missouri was not alone in adjusting a resident-approved sick leave policy after voters gave it their support. In Nebraska, Gov. Jim Pillen exempted businesses with 10 or fewer workers from its requirements.
The bill also allows Nebraska businesses to withhold benefits from teenage employees and agricultural workers.
However, Missouri voters and workers may have the last laugh. The Kansas City Star found that organizers have already filed for a similar measure to make it onto state ballots in 2026.
