Repeals provisions relating to paid sick leave and minimum wage increases and reinstates previous minimum wage provisions
HB1577 repeals Missouri’s existing paid sick leave and minimum wage increase provisions and replaces them with a new section governing employee compensation. The bill would set a state minimum wage of $8.60 per hour beginning January 1, 2019, with scheduled annual increases of $0.85 until the wage reaches $12.00 per hour in 2023, after which future adjustments would be tied to the Consumer Price Index. It also preserves the rule that employees must be paid the higher of the state minimum wage or applicable federal minimum wage, and it excludes public employers from the annual increase schedule for their employees.
The bill would also create a statewide earned paid sick time program for private-sector employees. Covered employees would accrue one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, with annual usage caps depending on employer size, and the leave could be used for an employee’s own illness, family care, public health emergencies, or needs related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The bill includes notice, recordkeeping, confidentiality, enforcement, anti-retaliation, and civil remedy provisions, and it authorizes the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, as well as local governments, to investigate complaints and enforce compliance.
HB1577 would repeal multiple existing sections of Missouri law in the 290.500 series and enact a new comprehensive framework for minimum wage and earned paid sick leave. It would alter employer obligations by reinstating a lower minimum wage schedule than the one currently bracketed in the bill text, while also creating new compliance duties for private employers regarding accrual, use, posting, documentation, record retention, and anti-retaliation protections. The bill would also affect municipal and county enforcement authority, employee civil remedies, and the treatment of collective bargaining agreements and more generous employer leave policies.
The available context suggests the bill is framed as a rollback of existing wage-and-leave policy, and the caption explicitly describes it as repealing paid sick leave and minimum wage increase provisions and reinstating prior minimum wage rules. No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to indicate bipartisan support or opposition. Based on the text alone, the bill appears to reflect a policy preference for replacing the current higher-wage/higher-leave structure with a different statutory scheme, which would likely draw mixed reactions from labor and business stakeholders.
The main points of contention are likely the repeal of paid sick leave protections, the level and timing of the minimum wage, and the scope of employer compliance obligations. Employee advocates would likely object to eliminating or reducing earned sick leave rights and to the lower wage schedule, while employer groups may support the rollback but could still raise concerns about enforcement, local government authority, and administrative burdens. The bill also contains detailed rules on retaliation, documentation, and local enforcement, which could be disputed by both employers and municipalities over how much discretion and liability the law creates.