December 9, 2024 - On Friday, December 6, 2024, a broad coalition of business advocacy organizations filed a petition with the Missouri Supreme Court seeking to overturn Proposition A - the minimum wage hike and paid sick and domestic violence leave mandate passed by voters in the November election.
Besides increasing prices for consumers and imposing significant burdens on employers, including the risk of criminal charges and lawsuits from employees if they violate any of the provisions of the law, the fiscal note and ballot summary statement (that voters actually saw as they cast their vote) were not in compliance with the law. The Proposition violates the single subject requirements of the Missouri Constitution, and the new law unconstitutionally discriminates against employees of different types of employers. It is because of these legal deficiencies (and others) the coalition of business advocacy groups is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to invalidate the election adopting Proposition A.
HERE IS THE BALLOT LANGUAGE VOTERS SAW AS THEY CONSIDERED THEIR VOTE:
"Do you want to amend Missouri law to:
increase minimum wage January 1, 2025 to $13.75 per hour, increasing $1.25 per hour each year until 2026, when the minimum wage would be $15.00 per hour;
adjust minimum wage based on changes in the Consumer Price Index each January beginning in 2027;
require all employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked;
allow the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to provide oversight and enforcement; and
exempt governmental entities, political subdivisions, school districts and education institutions"
There is nothing in the ballot language above that even briefly mentions the following:
Employers will no longer be allowed to regulate and enforce the use of paid sick leave except as provided in the language of Prop A;
Employees may file lawsuits against employers if an employer takes action against an employee for abusing paid sick leave and the employee may be entitled to triple the value of any denied sick leave, reinstatement, back pay and/or attorney fees;
Employers must allow the use of paid sick leave for an employee who is securing their home or relocating due to stalking, sexual assault, or domestic violence and for meetings with lawyers to secure legal services for such issues;
Employers must pay employees sick leave if their children's school is shut down due to a health emergency (such as COVID);
Employers must pay employees sick leave if their business is shut down by a governmental entity due to a health emergency;
Employers may not ask an employee about their illness;
Employers may not require a note from a healthcare professional unless the employee takes three consecutive days of leave; and,
The paid sick leave requirements do not apply to some small retail and service employers, but DO apply to small manufacturers and those in other industries that are otherwise in the exact same situation. In fact, the ballot language says the opposite: that all employers must provide paid sick leave.
All of the details were included in the nine pages of text that voters did not see while making their decision. Whether you agree with these requirements or not is not the issue in our lawsuit, but rather the fact you were not given the opportunity to express support or opposition to these individual provisions. In fact, you were not even allowed to support one of the two main subjects addressed in the measure: minimum wage increase and paid sick leave requirement. You did not have the ability to vote for only the minimum wage hike and reject the paid sick leave provisions or vice versa. That is why the Missouri Constitution requires separate questions for separate issues: to allow voters to make informed decisions and not be tricked into supporting multiple issues together in one ballot question.
We have heard from some employers that do not believe Proposition A applies to their business because they already provide paid sick leave to employees, or they already pay employees more than minimum wage. But this law will affect nearly every employer. Read more details in our earlier article on the subject here.
IMPORTANT: Associated Industries of Missouri is a lead plaintiff, along with other business advocacy organizations, and we need your help. If your business is able and willing to support our legal challenge, please contact Ray McCarty at rmccarty@aimo.com.
Stay tuned!!!