This article was originally published by The 19th on November 7, 2024.
In every state where paid sick leave was on the ballot, voters approved it. On Election Day, bills in Missouri, Alaska and Nebraska passed by wide margins. In Alaska, 57% of voters approved, in Missouri it was 58%, and in Nebraska it was 74%.
WATCH: Demand for paid leave grows 30 years after the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act
Three new initiatives will provide workers with paid sick leave based on employer size. For businesses with 15 or more employees in Missouri and Alaska and 20 or more employees in Nebraska, employees can receive up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year. This equates to 7 days on an 8 hour shift. People working in small businesses can earn up to 40 hours a year, or five eight-hour days.
Paid leave laws go into effect in May (Missouri), July (Alaska), and October (Nebraska).
Workers can use their time to take care of sick family members or sick family members. This benefit is considered important for supporting and retaining low-wage workers, who are most likely to have limited or no access to paid sick leave. The majority of them are women.
About 80 percent of workers in this country have paid sick leave, but only 38 percent of the lowest-income earners do. Different industries offer different levels of vacation. Only half of hospitality and food service workers, the majority of whom are women, receive paid sick leave.
The United States is one of the few countries without a national paid leave policy, so states have long created their own measures to guarantee paid sick leave, paid parental leave, or both.
Three new laws now guarantee 18 states and Washington, D.C. their own paid sick leave laws. Ballot measures in Alaska and Missouri would also raise the minimum wage in those states to $15 an hour, following in the footsteps of 30 other states. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and has not been raised in 15 years.
Inimai Chettiar, president of the nonprofit group A Better Balance, which helped draft the three ballot measures, said the results show that “paid sick leave is overwhelmingly beneficial to families and has no partisan “It’s a popular winning issue among voters across the board.” line. ”
“At a time when workplace justice is uncertain at the federal level, we know that state-level wins like this will continue to play a critical role in advancing new rights for workers and caregivers. “There are,” Chettiar said in a statement. “States’ progress points the way for federal policymakers toward common, common-sense measures to help workers take care of themselves and their loved ones.”
All three states that passed the bill supported President-elect Donald Trump, and experts believe the result is a sign that “progressive policies” such as the minimum wage and paid leave will attract voters regardless of party. It is emphasized as evidence that the degree of
“What we know is that workers need paid sick leave. Workers needed paid sick leave last week, they need it tomorrow, and they will need it in a year. ” said Molly Weston Williamson, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank. “Voters don’t see these as partisan issues. Voters care about minimum standards. They see these as center-right things that everyone should have. When they have the opportunity to express that, they bring that message home loud and clear.”
Neither Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris made any promises about paid sick and parental leave policies they would pass as president. But Harris spoke about the issue much more extensively than Trump, who did not mention it during his campaign.
During his first term, President Trump expanded paid sick leave benefits, including a provision that allows parents to take up to 12 weeks of paid sick leave at two-thirds pay to care for children absent from school or day care. signed the coronavirus bill, which includes Closed due to the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19). It eventually expired, but Congress did not extend it.
President Trump also signed a defense bill guaranteeing 12 weeks of paid parental leave to federal employees. This is a policy priority for his daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, who is not expected to play a role in a second term.
It is unclear whether he will pursue any kind of paid leave policy in his second term.
