The November 2024 general election saw the approval of a number of state ballot measures, as our colleagues reported here.

Among those measures are a new paid sick leave (PSL) law in Nebraska and paid sick and safe leave (PSSL) laws in Alaska and Missouri, all of which become effective in 2025. The three will join 21 states, the District of Columbia, and several local jurisdictions that already have PSL or PSSL laws on the books.

This Insight provides highlights of the new paid leave program requirements in Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska.

Alaska’s Ballot Measure No. 1 (eff. 7/1/25)

Covered Employers and Employees: Alaska’s ballot measure, like the statutory chapter it amended, does not define which employers it covers and, therefore, presumptively covers all employers in the state. Alaska’s PSSL law exempts volunteers, apprentices, certain nonprofit or temporary camp staff, and certain individuals employed in agriculture, among others.

Accrual and Carryover: Starting July 1, 2025, employees will accrue one hour of PSSL for every 30 hours worked. Exempt employees are assumed to work for 40 hours per week for purposes of accrual unless their normal workweek is shorter.

Employees will start accruing leave as soon as the PSSL law takes effect or on the first day of employment and can use PSSL as it accrues. Small employers with fewer than 15 employees may cap accrual and usage at 40 hours per year. Employers with at least 15 employees may cap accrual and usage at 56 hours per year. There is no guidance yet on whether an employee count is based on in-state employees or all employees nationwide. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, employers should assume that all employees nationwide would be counted.

All accrued, unused PSSL carries over to the following year, but an employer can cap usage as described above. Note that Alaska’s law does not address whether employers may front-load in lieu of accrual and carryover.

PSSL is not required to be paid upon separation of employment.

Permitted Usage: Under Alaska’s PSSL law, employees will be able to use accrued leave for medical reasons, whether their own or those of a “family member,” which includes individuals whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship. The PSSL law also covers time off for safe leave affecting the employee or a family member for reasons related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Employees will be able to use accrued leave in hourly increments or the smallest increment available under the employer’s payroll system, whichever is smaller.

Notice and Documentation: The PSSL law requires Alaska employees to make a good faith effort to provide advance notice and attempt to schedule PSSL in a manner that would not disrupt regularly scheduled business when the need to take leave is foreseeable. If leave lasts more than three consecutive days, employers can require reasonable documentation to demonstrate the leave was used for permitted purposes. However, employers requesting documentation should be cautious not to require any documents regarding confidential medical information or details of a health need.

Employers should be on the lookout for administrative regulations or guidance from Alaska’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development, expected in early 2025.

Missouri’s Proposition A (eff. 5/1/25)

Covered Employers and Employees: All private employers in the state are covered under Missouri’s Minimum Wage and Earned Paid Sick Time Initiative. Smaller employers (those with fewer than 15 employees within Missouri) do not need to allow as much paid leave usage as larger employers. Note that Missouri’s law explicitly provides that, for purposes of determining whether an employer is smaller or larger, all employees in Missouri must be included in the tally, whether full-time, part-time, or temporary. Employers with fluctuating rosters must provide benefits as a larger employer if they employ 15 or more individuals in Missouri during any 20 weeks of the year.

Missouri’s PSSL law exempts a long list of individuals, including volunteers, temporary camp staff, babysitters, golf caddies, and some retail and service business employees, among others, from the law.

Accrual and Carryover: Similar to Alaska’s law, Missouri’s PSSL law will allow eligible employees to accrue one hour of PSSL for every 30 hours worked, beginning May 1, 2025. Exempt employees are presumed to work a 40-hour workweek for accrual purposes unless their normal schedule is different. Employers, regardless of size, cannot limit the amount of PSSL an employee accrues in a year.

Small employers may cap annual use at 40 hours, and large employers may cap annual use at 56 hours.

Up to 80 hours of unused accrued PSSL can be carried over from year to year. However, employees are still limited to using only 40 or 56 hours of accrued PSSL in any single year.

Front-Loading: Missouri employers can make all PSSL available at the beginning of the year through front-loading rather than using an accrual system. However, employers that front-load PSSL must either permit carryover of up to 80 hours or pay out the value of unused accrued PSSL at the end of the year.

PSSL is not required to be paid upon separation of employment.

Permitted Usage: As in Alaska, Missouri employees can use PSSL for medical reasons of their own or of a family member, or for reasons related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The Missouri law also allows the use of paid leave accruals when a public health emergency causes the employee’s place of business to close or when a family member’s school or place of care is closed due to a public health emergency.

Notice and Documentation: Missouri employees using PSSL must make good faith efforts to provide notice when foreseeable or as soon as practicable. Employers in Missouri can require notice of leave usage, even when the need is not foreseeable, but are required to have a written policy explaining procedures for giving such notice. If leave is expected to last more than three days, employers can require documentation as long as the documentation does not explain the nature of the illness or health need.

Recordkeeping Requirement: Missouri employers must retain PSSL records for three years.

Nebraska’s Initiative 436 (eff. 10/1/25)

Covered Employers and Employees: All employers that employ at least one employee in Nebraska are covered under the Nebraska Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA). To be covered by the HWFA, employees must work at least 80 hours in a calendar year in Nebraska.

Accrual and Carryover: Beginning on October 1, 2025, Nebraska employees are entitled to earn one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. Nebraska employers with fewer than 20 employees must allow employees to accrue up to 40 hours of earned leave per year. Employers with 20 or more employees must allow employees to accrue up to 56 hours of leave annually. There is no guidance yet on whether an employee count is based on in-state employees or all employees nationwide. To ensure compliance until Nebraska releases guidance on the issue, employers with employees nationwide should assume that all employees would be counted.

Small employers may cap annual use at 40 hours, and large employers may cap annual use at 56 hours. Accrued, unused paid sick time must be carried over to the following year, but carried-over time does not entitle an employee to take more time than the 40- or 56-hour maximum.

Permitted Usage: Once the HWFA takes effect, eligible employees will be entitled to accrue paid leave immediately upon commencement of employment and to use such leave as it accrues. The law permits the use of paid leave for an employee’s mental or physical illness or preventive medical care, or care of a “family member,” broadly defined, with medical needs. Nebraska’s law also allows paid leave to be used to attend a meeting at a school or place of care if related to the medical needs of an employee’s child and further permits usage when an employee’s place of business or a school or childcare facility is closed because of a public health emergency.

Paid sick time may be used in hourly increments or, if smaller, increments used by the employer’s payroll system to account for absences.

Notably, Nebraska’s law does not provide for “safe time” usage, in contrast to the Alaska and Missouri measures.

Front-Loading: Instead of carrying over unused paid sick time, employers can compensate employees for unused accrued leave at the end of the year, if leave is front-loaded at the beginning of the year. Note that, if an employer does not front-load leave, it still can advance unearned leave to employees at its discretion.

Notice and Documentation: The HWFA explicitly states that employees can request PSL verbally. Employers may require documentation as long as the employer provides a reasonable written policy explaining its PSL procedures. Also, the HWFA permits employers to require reasonable documentation for leaves of more than three consecutive workdays. Reasonable documentation can include documents signed by a health care professional indicating that sick leave was necessary or an employee’s written statement explaining the qualifying use of sick leave if no health care services were used.

The HWFA sets forth specific obligations requiring employers to notify employees in writing of their rights to earn and use PSL, as well as to display a poster about those rights at workplaces or electronically. Employers will also be required to record leave accruals and usage in regular paystubs.

Common Threads

As detailed above, the new paid leave laws in Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska have numerous details in common. For instance, each law:

• permits accrual at a rate of one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked,
• allows employees to use at least 40 and as much as 56 hours of accrued (or front-loaded) paid leave annually,
• allows an employer to provide its own leave policies so long as they are at least as beneficial to employees as the law requires, and
• does not obligate employers to create a new paid leave program if an existing policy meets or exceeds the benefits available under state law.

More Changes Across the United States

While creating new policies for employees in Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska, employers across the United States should also be mindful of changes coming (or recently implemented) to existing sick leave laws:

• Connecticut has expanded its sick leave to cover more employees, effective January 1, 2025.
• Massachusetts allows employees to use sick leave for pregnancy loss or failed assisted reproduction, adoption, or surrogacy, effective November 21, 2024.
• Minnesota has expanded notice, documentation, and anti-retaliation requirements for employers who provide more paid time off than required, effective January 1, 2025. In addition, the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development recently announced proposed permanent rules regulating the Minnesota paid leave program.
• Washington State has added new reasons and family members covered by the statewide sick leave law, effective January 1, 2025

What Employers Should Do Now

Paid leave laws continue to capture the attention of workers and lawmakers. When states like Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska are enacting such legislation, it is a clear sign that such programs are now the norm. As with other trends, it won’t be long before most locations have some form of this popular employer mandate.

In light of this, employers everywhere should:

• monitor relevant agencies for additional guidance and resources on the new laws;
• consult with counsel to review current leave policies and update them, if needed, before any applicable law’s effective date;
• train human resource specialists and managers on qualifying uses for paid leave and recordkeeping and documentation requirements in varying jurisdictions;
• prepare payroll systems to account for and report on accruals and usage of paid leave; and
• ensure that employees receive timely written notices as required.

Elizabeth A. Ledkovsky contributed to this article