Voters in Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska approved measures to provide paid sick leave to workers in their states by wide margins on Election Day. The new laws will give workers up to 56 hours of paid sick time a year, depending on the size of their employer. This is seen as a critical benefit for low-wage workers, especially women, who are the most likely to have limited or no access to paid sick time.
With these new laws, 18 states and Washington, D.C. now have their own guaranteed paid sick time laws. In addition, Alaska’s and Missouri’s measures will also increase their minimum wages to $15 an hour, following the lead of 30 other states. The federal minimum wage has not been raised in 15 years and remains at $7.25 per hour.
Advocates for paid sick leave see these state-level victories as crucial in advancing workers’ rights, especially as there is no national paid leave policy in the United States. With the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the need for paid sick leave, voters have shown strong support for progressive policies like paid leave and higher minimum wages regardless of party affiliation.
While President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris did not make specific promises about paid leave policies during the campaign, Trump did sign some temporary paid sick leave measures during his first term. It remains to be seen if he will pursue any permanent paid leave policy in his second term.
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