Paid sick leave measures pass in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska

Workers in three states are now entitled to paid sick leave for the first time.

In Alaska, most workers are now entitled to at least 40 hours of paid sick leave a year. Larger employers in the state can allow 56 or more hours of paid sick leave a year with those days carrying over to the next year, according to the ballot measure language.

The initiative passed with 56.5 percent of the vote in Alaska, according to Decision Desk HQ results.

In Missouri, employers are now required to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee works, according to the measure. There is an exception for very small businesses. Under the measure, businesses with fewer than 15 employees need to provide workers with at least seven paid sick days.

The new sick paid leave requirement is set to go into effect in May 2025, according to the ballot measure language.

The measure — called Proposition A — passed with 57.6 percent of the vote, according to Decision Desk HQ results.

Nebraskans voted to pass Measure 436, giving eligible workers in the state the right to earn paid sick time for “personal or family health needs,” according to a pamphlet on the ballot initiative.

Under the measure, workers in businesses with fewer than 20 employees can accrue and use up to 40 hours of paid sick time a year while those working for employers with more than 20 employees can accrue and use up to 56 hours of paid sick time annually.

The ballot initiative passed with more than 74 percent of the vote, according to Decision Desk HQ election results.

There is no federal law that entitles workers to paid time off, and fewer than 20 states now have enacted paid sick time laws.

Prior to these ballot initiatives passing, 15 states and Washington, D.C., had paid sick leave laws on the books, according to the Center for American Progress.

Most private-sector workers do have access to paid sick leave.

Before the ballot initiatives passed, just 22 percent of workers in the U.S. were not entitled to a single paid sick day, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.