Paid sick leave on the ballot in several states in November

Voters in Missouri, Nebraska and Alaska, will go to the polls in November and vote whether to mandate paid sick leave for workers. The issue initially gained steam during the COVID pandemic. Right now, employees who are part-time or lower-wage workers are less likely to have such coverage.

Without sick leave, some workers feel they have to make a tough choice at times, between their financial well-being and their physical health. More specifically, they opt to go into work when sick, because they don't want to lose money.

If paid sick leave passes, workers would be compensated based on how much time they have accrued and their jobs would be held for them when they are "out sick" or caring for a family member. Each state would have different policies.

In the Missouri case, businesses would be required to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The maximum leave would be five days a year for employees of small businesses and seven days a year for larger companies.

Fourteen states and Washington, D.C., currently mandate paid sick leave. In addition, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires most employers to provide unpaid leave for certain situations, such as after the birth of a child or a long-term illness .

Opponents, including some business groups and chambers of commerce, have said paid sick leave constitutes a mandate and government overreach. They said that it should be up to individual business owners to decide whether to provide such a benefit to workers.

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