AbsentEase
Missouri sick leave law & call-off rules
Missouri just gave employers whiplash: Prop A's earned paid sick time became mandatory on May 1, 2025 and was repealed by the legislature effective August 28, 2025 — 119 days of mandate, gone. But the story isn't entirely over: handbook language written for Prop A may still bind you contractually, retaliation over leave taken in that window remains actionable, and a restoration initiative drafted as a constitutional amendment the legislature couldn't touch was cleared to circulate — though it did not qualify for the November 3, 2026 ballot, so nothing is pending. Here is where things actually stand in 2026.
Missouri at a glance
| Paid sick leave mandate | None as of Aug 28, 2025 — Prop A's sick time was repealed by HB 567 |
|---|---|
| Restoration attempt | IP 2026-047 (constitutional amendment) did not qualify for the Nov 3, 2026 ballot — nothing pending |
| Local ordinances | Preempted (RSMo 290.528) — no city sick-leave mandates allowed |
| Employment relationship | At-will, narrow public-policy exception |
| PTO payout at termination | Only if your policy or contract promises it |
| Final paycheck deadline | Fired: day of discharge; wage-continuation penalty after written demand · Quit: next payday in practice |
| Voting leave | Up to 3 hours paid, on request before election day |
Is paid sick leave required in Missouri?
Not anymore. Prop A (approved November 2024) required earned paid sick time at 1 hour per 30 worked starting May 1, 2025 — and HB 567 repealed those provisions effective August 28, 2025, after the Missouri Supreme Court had declined to void the election. Nothing in the repeal required honoring balances accrued during the window, though leave actually taken before August 28 keeps its protections, and policies that promised the time in writing may still owe it as a matter of contract. Local ordinances are preempted (RSMo 290.528), so no city can fill the gap. Initiative Petition 2026-047, which would have re-imposed paid sick leave constitutionally, was approved to circulate but did not qualify for the November 3, 2026 ballot — nothing is currently pending.
The Prop A timeline (and what survives)
| Nov 5, 2024 | Voters approve Prop A: sick leave (1 per 30, caps 40/56 hours by size) plus minimum-wage increases |
|---|---|
| May 1, 2025 | Earned paid sick time becomes mandatory (RSMo 290.600–.642) |
| Aug 28, 2025 | HB 567 repeals the sick-time statute; accrued balances lose statutory protection, but leave already taken keeps its anti-retaliation cover |
| What survived | The $15.00/hour minimum wage (Jan 1, 2026) stands; CPI indexing from 2027 was killed |
| 2026 | Initiative Petition 2026-047 — a repeal-proof constitutional amendment restoring paid sick leave — was approved to circulate but did not qualify for the November 3, 2026 ballot |
The contractual tail: employers who wrote Prop A accruals into handbooks or offer letters during the window may owe that time as a promise, repeal or not. If your 2025 handbook still describes earned paid sick time, either honor it or amend it deliberately — silence is how disputes start.
The federal floor that still applies
FMLA
Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles must give eligible employees (12+ months tenure, 1,250+ hours in the past year) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition — their own or a close family member's. FMLA-protected absences can't accrue attendance points, and a call-off that mentions an ongoing condition can be notice enough to trigger your FMLA obligations, even if the employee never says "FMLA."
ADA
For employers with 15+ employees, the ADA can require modified attendance expectations or unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. An attendance policy applied "no exceptions" is exactly the kind that loses ADA cases — build an accommodation carve-out into the policy itself.
FLSA overtime and attendance bonuses
A cash bonus promised in advance for good attendance counts as wages under federal overtime law. It has to be added into the regular rate for the weeks it covers, so any of those weeks over 40 hours owes extra overtime on the bonus, usually recalculated after the bonus is paid. State overtime law can add to this, but can't go below it. See how attendance bonuses change overtime pay.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and firing in Missouri
Missouri is back to being a policy-is-the-law state: at-will employment, no sick-leave mandate, and attendance enforcement limited mainly by the federal floor and workers' comp retaliation doctrine. The 2025 whiplash leaves two live wires. First, anything an employee did with protected sick time between May and August 2025 stays protected — discipline that reaches back into that window invites a claim. Second, the mandate may return someday in repeal-proof form — the 2026 restoration petition did not make the ballot, but the template exists — and employers who kept their Prop A call-off and record-keeping machinery running will re-comply in a week while competitors start over. Wage disputes go to the Missouri Division of Labor Standards or court, and they turn on records either way. A call-off hotline or text-based call-off system is the part of Prop A compliance worth keeping voluntarily.
After a no call, no show termination in Missouri
| Does Missouri law define job abandonment? | No statute sets a consecutive-days threshold; job abandonment is defined by employer policy. However, the unemployment statute expressly makes 'A violation of an employer's no-call, no-show policy' misconduct, along with 'chronic absenteeism or tardiness in violation of a known policy of the employer' and 'two or more unapproved absences following a written reprimand or warning relating to an unapproved absence unless such absences are protected by law.' (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 288.050.1(1), § 288.050.2, § 288.030.1(23)(c)) |
|---|---|
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a discharge | When an employer discharges an employee 'with or without cause,' unpaid wages 'then earned at the contract rate, without abatement or deduction, shall be and become due and payable on the day of the discharge'; if the employee then requests payment in writing and the money does not arrive within seven days of the request, wages continue at the same rate as a penalty until paid, but for no more than sixty days (employees paid primarily by commission whose duties require an audit are excluded). (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.110) |
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a resignation | No state deadline statute; wages are due on the next regular payday under general wage-payment rules. § 290.110 covers only discharge; the general statute requires corporations to pay 'as often as semimonthly, within sixteen days of the close of each payroll period.' The Department of Labor's own page addresses final wages only for discharged employees. (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.080 (general pay-frequency statute)) |
| Accrued PTO at separation | No state requirement; owed only if your written policy promises it. No statute requires vacation or PTO payout; the Division of Labor Standards states 'Employers are not required to provide vacation pay, holiday pay, or severance pay — these are benefits given at an employer's discretion. The exception would be instances where an employer has entered into a contract where certain benefits are established by agreement.' (Mo. Dept. of Labor and Industrial Relations, Wages, Hours and Dismissal Rights (no statute)) |
| Unemployment claims | A claimant who 'has left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to such work or to the claimant's employer' is disqualified (§ 288.050.1(1)); a claimant 'discharged for misconduct connected with the claimant's work' is disqualified (§ 288.050.2), and the no-call, no-show policy violation is listed in the statutory definition of misconduct at § 288.030.1(23)(c), so a documented no-call, no-show discharge is adjudicated as a misconduct discharge rather than a quit. |
If a state agency later treats a "resignation" as a discharge, the discharge deadline governs, so pay by the earlier of the two when in doubt. Document each step with the no call, no show write-up and termination letter templates, which fill in Missouri's final-pay rule.
Write a no call, no show policy that fits Missouri
Start from our no call, no show policy guide and free template, or let the generator turn nine quick questions into a signature-ready policy with Missouri already selected so the protected-leave section covers the federal FMLA and ADA rules that still apply here.
PTO payout and final paychecks
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is fired or laid off | Due on the day of discharge; if unpaid 7 days after written request, wages continue as a penalty up to 60 days | RSMo 290.110 |
| Employee quits | No statutory deadline — next regular payday in practice | — |
| Unused vacation / PTO | Owed only if a policy or contract promises it | Policy/contract law |
| Prop A-era sick balances | No statutory payout or carry obligation after the repeal — but written policy promises from the mandate window may bind contractually | HB 567 |
The discharge-day rule plus the 60-day wage-continuation penalty make Missouri firings a same-day payroll event once an employee sends a written demand. See how PTO accrual works.
Leave Missouri employers must (and must not) provide
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Voting | Yes — paid | Up to 3 hours unless the employee has 3 consecutive off-duty hours while polls are open; request before election day (RSMo 115.639) |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | No adverse action, and you can't force annual, vacation, personal, or sick leave onto jury days (RSMo 494.460) |
| Military | Yes | USERRA (federal) plus Missouri National Guard protections |
| Sick leave | No | Whatever your written policy provides — see the Prop A contractual tail above |
| Meal & rest breaks | No | No Missouri break statute for adults |
The Missouri employer's attendance playbook
- Put it in writing. A written policy — call-off deadline and channel, points or steps, the no-call no-show rule, and carve-outs for legally protected absences — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
- Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
- Log everything with timestamps. Unemployment hearings and discrimination charges are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
- Enforce consistently. Uneven enforcement converts a lawful termination into a discrimination claim.
- Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying points — sickness that could be FMLA/ADA territory gets a different track than an overslept alarm.
Comparing states? See all published guides on the state sick leave laws hub.