Three states had paid leave on the ballot. Voters in each one overwhelmingly approved them
Source: PBS News Hour/The 19th
Nov 10, 2024 11:45 AM EST
In every state where paid sick leave was on the ballot, voters approved it. On Election Day, measures in Missouri, Alaska and Nebraska passed by wide margins: In Alaska, 57 percent of voters approved it, in Missouri it was 58 percent and in Nebraska a whopping 74 percent.
The three new initiatives will give workers earned sick time depending on the size of their employer. If the business has 15 or more workers in Missouri and Alaska, or 20 or more in Nebraska, workers earn up to 56 hours of paid sick time a year. That’s equivalent to seven days if they work eight-hour shifts. Those who work for smaller businesses can earn up to 40 hours a year, or five eight-hour days. The paid leave laws go into effect in May (Missouri), July (Alaska) and October (Nebraska).
Workers can use the time in case of illness or to care for a family member who is sick. The benefit is considered critical to help support and retain low-wage workers, who are the most likely to have limited or no access to paid sick time. The majority of them are women. About 80 percent of workers in the country get some paid sick time, but among the lowest earners, only 38 percent do.
Different industries provide different levels of leave. Only half of hospitality and food service workers — who are predominantly women — get paid sick time. The United States is one of a handful of countries that doesn’t have a national-level paid leave policy, and so over the years, states have created their own measures guaranteeing either paid sick leave, paid parental leave or both.
Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/three-states-had-paid-leave-on-the-ballot-voters-in-each-one-overwhelmingly-approved-them
As a sidenote - federal employees earn 4 hours of paid sick leave per pay period (or about 1 day per month, and due to there usually being 26 pay periods per years, it's closer to 13 days per year) for full time employees. Those hours can be carried over from year to year, with no cap or "use or lose" provision like federal annual (vacation) leave.
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