States Take Action To Protect Workers Who Need Safe Leave

Domestic and sexual violence touches every corner of this country. In the most recent federal data, 47.3 percent of women and 44.2 percent of men reported that they experienced “contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking” from an intimate partner at some point in their lives.¹ For survivors of such violence, economic independence and personal safety are tightly linked. Workers must be able to take the steps needed to pursue safety—relocating, dealing with legal matters, and pursuing victim services—without risking their job or their paycheck.

For this reason, states and cities have stepped up to guarantee workers the right to time off from work to address needs in response to violence, a protection known as “safe leave,” which offers an important tool for supporting survivors as they pursue safety. Nearly half of all states now have laws on the books providing some form of safe leave.² This issue brief details developments in this important area of policy in 2024 and 2025, with state laws providing new and expanded safe leave rights.

Voters in Alaska³ and Missouri⁴ resoundingly approved ballot initiatives in 2024 to create new paid sick and safe time laws in their states. Both ballot initiatives included increasing the state minimum wage, underscoring the strong connection between paid time off to address health and safety needs and the economic security of a living wage. Workers will begin earning and using paid sick and safe time under both laws in 2025, starting on May 1 in Missouri⁵ and on July 1 in Alaska.⁶

The two laws will offer very similar, though not identical, protections. Under both laws, employees will earn one hour of paid sick and safe time for every 30 hours worked⁷ and can use up to a 40 or 56 hours per year depending on employer size.⁸ In each state, workers will be able to use their time when they or a family member must address needs in connection with domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.⁹ Covered needs in relation to violence include relocating or securing an existing home,¹⁰ obtaining legal services,¹¹ preparing for or participating in a civil or criminal proceeding,¹² getting services from a victim services organization,¹³ or getting physical or mental health care.¹⁴ In addition, workers in both Missouri and Alaska will be able to use this time for their own or a loved one’s physical or mental health needs, regardless of whether those needs are in relation to violence.¹⁵

Workers cannot be required to provide documentation unless their absence is at least three consecutive workdays in Missouri or more than three consecutive workdays in Alaska.¹⁶ For longer absences, workers in either state will be able to self-certify their safe leave¹⁷ or can choose to provide other documentation.¹⁸

Missouri and Alaska join 15 other states, the District of Columbia, and several cities and counties that already have paid sick and safe time laws in place.¹⁹ In three of these states, existing sick and safe time laws are becoming stronger and broader, better protecting survivors and their families.

In Michigan, major expansions to the state paid sick and safe time law went into effect on February 21, 2025.²⁰ Previously, Michigan’s paid sick and safe time law only covered employers with at least 50 employees²¹ and excluded many part-time and seasonal workers.²² The law now applies to employers regardless of size and includes many previously excluded workers,²³ though some expanded rights for employees at employers with 10 or fewer employes may be delayed until October.²⁴ Workers can now accrue sick and safe leave more quickly, at a rate of a one hour for every 30 hours worked,²⁵ compared with one hour for every 35 hours worked under the previous iteration.²⁶ Employers can still limit employees to using a maximum of 40 hours of paid sick and safe time per year.²⁷

Similarly, Connecticut passed a law substantially improving its paid sick and safe time law,²⁸ adding new and broader protections to a law that broke new ground as the first statewide paid sick and safe time law in 2011.²⁹ While the original law covered only service workers at employers with 50 or more employees,³⁰ as of January 1, 2025, Connecticut law guarantees paid sick and safe time rights to nearly all employees of employers with at least 25 employees.³¹ The expanded law will cover employers with as few as 11 employees in 2026 and employers of all sizes starting in 2027.³² In addition, safe time in Connecticut can now be used to assist loved ones dealing with the impacts of violence,³³ as is the case in nearly all other states,³⁴ while the law previously limited use to when workers themselves experienced violence.³⁵ To make it easier for workers to use their leave, Connecticut employers are no longer allowed to require employees to provide documentation for sick or safe leave.³⁶

Completing the set, workers in California now have added rights to leave to address the impacts of violence thanks to a 2024 law.³⁷ Under the state’s existing paid sick and safe time law,³⁸ paid safe leave can now be used when workers or their loved ones experience “[a]n act, conduct, or pattern of conduct” 1) involving bodily injury or death; 2) use or brandishing of a weapon, including a firearm; or 3) use of or threat to use force against another person as well as in response to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.³⁹ The addition of these broader categories of covered acts of violence makes California a national leader, given that most other state paid sick and safe time laws cover a more restricted range of violence. Workers can now use their time for a broader range of needs in relation to violence, including relocating or securing a new residence,⁴⁰enrolling a child in a new school or care for a child or care-dependent adult in response to violence,⁴¹ seeking legal assistance or participating in legal proceedings,⁴² and caring for a child or care-dependent adult in response to violence,⁴³ in addition to needs covered under previous law.⁴⁴

Similar to Connecticut’s changes, California’s new law enables workers to use their paid safe leave to assist a loved one who is a victim of violence in certain situations, such as to help the survivor relocate to safety or accompany them to legal proceedings,⁴⁵ rather than only being able to access safe leave when they themselves experience violence.⁴⁶ Furthermore, under a separate statute, employees at employers with 25 or more employees can receive additional unpaid safe leave for the same set of reasons,⁴⁷ replacing the state’s previous narrower unpaid safe leave law.⁴⁸

When any workers or their loved ones are facing the impacts of violence, they deserve the ability to pursue safety without putting their job on the line. While work continues to pass a federal paid sick and safe time law,⁴⁹ state and local policymakers must step up to ensure survivors of violence have the time and support they need to protect and care for themselves and their families.