Missouri Labor Laws

In the US, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets laws in place to manage the time spent by employees in the workplace, safeguarding their rights and guaranteeing fair pay for their efforts. 

Similar to the FLSA, Missouri time management laws do not impose a minimum or maximum number of hours employees are required to work. However, state law requires employees to be fairly compensated for all hours worked. 

Additionally, if an employee works more than 40 hours in a week, they are entitled to additional wages. Any time spent travelling during regular work hours is also compensated. Meal or rest breaks are not required under Missouri labor law. 

Employers who contravene state time management laws face severe legal ramifications, including fines, back pay, and damages. If workers feel that their employer has violated their rights, they can file complaints with the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for investigation and legal action.

In Missouri, employers are prohibited from discriminating against individuals in any aspect of employment — including but not limited to hiring, firing, compensation, job transfers, promotions, and training opportunities — based on certain protected characteristics outlined in the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA). These include:

The Act also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for filing a complaint against discriminatory practices in the workplace. Harassment based on the abovementioned protected characteristics is also not allowed.

Missouri follows the at-will employment doctrine, which means that an employer or employee can terminate an employment contract at any time and for any reason, provided that the following conditions are not violated:

• Termination at-will must not violate the employee’s contract rules
• Employee must not be terminated as a direct result of discrimination against protected characteristics
• Merit laws must not be violated
• The termination must not violate Missouri’s public policy exception.

After an employee is terminated in Missouri, the employer must pay all wages owed immediately. If a discharged employee is not paid on time, they can request payment via certified mail receipt.

In case the employer still fails to pay the wages owed in seven days after the reminder, the employee is entitled to additional wages for up to 60 days till they are finally paid. 

Some additional employment laws in Missouri that affect employment contracts include: 

• Health Insurance Continuation Laws:  In Missouri, an employee and their dependents (such as their spouse or child) can continue receiving group health insurance coverage for 18 to 36 months after losing coverage due to a qualifying life event including voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in work hours, change of employment, divorce, death or other life event under the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). This Act applies to businesses that employ 20 or more full-time workers. However, eligible workers employed in businesses with two to 19 workers receive group health insurance coverage for up to nine months after qualifying life events under Missouri’s Mini-COBRA instead of the federal COBRA. 
• Workplace Safety Laws: Private employers in Missouri are required by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to adhere to safety regulations and provide their workers with a secure workplace that is free from known hazards. OSHA recognizes six main types of hazards in the workplace, including biological, chemical, dust, work organization, safety, physical, and ergonomic hazards. OSHA officials have the right to visit a workplace at any time to ensure that safety measures are being implemented correctly. 
• Whistleblower Laws: Missouri’s Whistleblower Protection Act prohibits employers from penalizing employees who report labor violations to authorities. Employees who receive disciplinary action are entitled to file a case and receive compensation for back pay, medical bills, and double the amount of these remedies. The law applies to employers with six or more employees but excludes state agencies, political subdivisions, higher education institutions, state-owned corporations, and religious or sectarian organizations.
• Recordkeeping Laws: Employers in Missouri are required to maintain accurate employee records, which must include the employee’s name, address, occupation, rate of pay, pay amount per period, hours worked per day and week, and any goods or services provided to employees. These records must be kept at or near the employee’s workplace for at least three years and should be available for inspection by the director upon request.

As of January 1, 2025, the minimum wage in Missouri is $13.75 per hour. Note that Missouri’s minimum wage rate only applies to private employers and non-exempt businesses in the state.  

Additionally, Missouri’s minimum wage law does not allow the state minimum wage to be lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. 

As per Missouri’s minimum wage laws, a tipped employee in the state is entitled to at least 50% of the state minimum wage. 

In 2025, a tipped employee’s minimum wage stands at $6.875 per hour, with the remaining amount withheld by the employer as tip credit. 

However, employers must ensure that the tipped employee’s cash wages and tips add up to equal the state minimum wage of $13.75. If not, the employer is required to make up the difference. 

Missouri’s minimum wage laws exempt certain types of employees from receiving minimum wage in the state. These include: 

• Executive, administrative, or professional employees
• Volunteers or workers for nonprofits, religious, or charitable organizations
• Foster parents
• Seasonal camp workers employed at children’s camps or non-profit educational establishments for less than four months in a year
• Students working at their school in exchange for tuition, housing, or other expenses
• Disabled individuals working in certified workshops
• Domestic workers employed in private homes working for six hours or less
• Casual babysitters
• Workers engaged in transportation jobs covered by federal law, including railroad and trucking jobs
• golf caddies, newspaper deliverers, or similar roles
• Commission-based salespeople
• Certain government workers
• Retail and service workers employed in businesses grossing less than $500,000 annually 
• Imprisoned individuals working in correctional facilities
• Seasonal amusement and recreational workers, as defined by federal law

Additionally, state law exempts certain employers and employees engaged in agricultural work. 

Missouri labor laws require employers to pay their workers’ wages and salaries semi-monthly or twice a month. The payments should be made within 16 days of each payroll cycle.

In Missouri, employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek are entitled to additional pay calculated at 1.5 times their base wage rate for each hour worked overtime. 

Employees in Missouri cannot voluntarily waive their overtime pay and take straight time wages for hours worked as overtime. Employees can file a wage complaint with the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations if they are requested by an employer to do so, as this is a violation of state minimum wage laws.

Fluctuating Work Week Overtime Pay in Missouri

However, certain salaried employees in Missouri can still qualify for overtime pay under the Fluctuating Workweek Method (FWW). 

Under this method, non-exempt salaried employees can receive an overtime premium of one-half (0.5) times their regular hourly rate.

To use the FWW method to calculate overtime for employees in Missouri, a worker’s weekly hours must fluctuate per week, and they must earn a set amount of pay every week, even if they work under their regularly scheduled hours. 

Certain employees are not entitled to overtime pay in Missouri, even if they work more than 40 hours in a week. As per the FLSA, salaried employees who earn more than $684 weekly (or $35,568 annually) are exempt from receiving overtime pay. 

This generally includes employees working in executive, administrative and professional positions or those employed as outside sales representatives. 

Additionally, the following types of employees are also exempt from receiving overtime pay in Missouri under the FLSA:

• Computer employees earning $684 weekly or $27.63 per hour
• Aircraft salespeople 
• Drivers, their helpers, loaders, and mechanics under certain conditions
• Commissioned salespersons under certain conditions
• Seasonal and recreational workers 
• Airline employees
• Amusement/recreational employees in national parks/forests/Wildlife Refuge System
• Casual babysitters
• Buyers of agricultural products
• Caretakers of the elderly
• Domestic employees who live with their employers
• Federal criminal investigators
• Livestock auction workers
• Motion picture theatre employees
• Newspaper deliverers
• Railroad employees

In Missouri, there aren’t any specific laws mandating rest or meal breaks for employees. 

It is generally up to the employer to provide such breaks. These breaks can also be decided upon with mutual agreement between an employer and employee, or can be determined with company policies and contracts. 

However, state law requires lunch breaks and rest periods for minors aged under 16 in Missouri. 

Minors must be provided a meal break after 5.5 hours of consecutive work, whereas those employed in the entertainment industry must be given a 15-minute rest break after every two hours of consecutive work.

State-level laws for nursing breaks are absent in Missouri; federal laws apply, which entitle nursing workers covered by the FLSA to reasonably timed breaks to express milk at the workplace for up to one year as per the PUMP Act.  These breaks can be taken whenever needed by the employee. 

Employers must provide such employees a private location that is not a bathroom, and is protected from public intrusion and co-workers.

Employers with less than 50 employees are not subject to the requirements of this act, if the provision of such breaks poses undue hardship on business operations. 

Breastfeeding breaks are generally not paid only if the employee is completely relieved of all job duties. If not, the employee must be paid. 

If an employer provides paid breaks, then the nursing employee must be compensated in the similar manner as other employees in the establishment.

Employers in Missouri are required by law to offer the following types of leave to workers:

• Family and Medical Leave: The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers in Missouri to provide eligible employees with 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12-month period. This leave can be taken for various reasons, including to care for the employee’s own or an immediate family member’s serious health condition, for the birth and care of a newborn child, or for the adoption or foster care placement of a child, or to tend to an urgent situation arising due to a family servicemember’s active military duty. To be eligible for leave under FMLA, an employee must have worked for their employer for at least 12 months and 1,250 hours in the previous year and work in a business with 50 or more employees employed within a 75-mile radius of their workplace. Employees can also take 26 weeks of unpaid military caregiver leave to care for a seriously injured or ill family servicemember.
• Donor Leave: Public employees in Missouri can take five days of leave to serve as a bone marrow donor and thirty days of leave to serve as an organ donor. Employees continue to receive their base wages while they are on donor leave in Missouri. 
• Jury Duty Leave: Missouri leave laws protect employees from disciplinary action or employer retaliation for takingunpaid  leave to respond to a jury summon, take part in the jury selection process or to attend jury duty. Employers are also prohibited from requiring employees to use vacation, personal, or sick leave for time spent serving on a jury.
• Voting Leave: In Missouri, every employee who has voting rights is entitled to take three hours off work to vote in any election held within the state. Employers cannot discriminate against employees who want to vote, nor can they deduct any wages for the time taken off to vote. However, employees must notify their employer before election day if they plan to use voting leave. Moreover, if an employee has a three-hour window when polls are open and they are not scheduled to work, they are not entitled to voting leave.

The following is a list of public holidays that will be observed in Missouri in 2025: 

Missouri law defines a minor as any individual who is under the age of 18. 

Missouri child labor laws apply to minors aged 16 and under. The minimum age of employment in Missouri is 14; minors aged under 14 are only allowed to work in certain occupations. 

Work Permits for Minors in Missouri

Minors aged 14 and 15 are required to obtain a work permit before securing employment. State law provides two different work permits that allow minors to work when school is in session or during summer break.

Furthermore, minors under 16 who want to work in the entertainment industry require a separate work permit.

Missouri labor laws outline specific work hour regulations regarding minors under the age of 16. 

When school is in session, minors can only work between 7 a.m and 7 p.m, for a maximum of six days in a week. They can work up to three hours on a school day and eight hours on a non-school day. 

Between June 1st and Labor Day, these minors can work between 7 a.m and 9 p.m. They can work up to eight hours daily and 40 hours weekly, but no more than six days in a workweek. 

During summer break, minors under 16 can work until 10:30 p.m. if they are employed at a regional fair. 

There are several categories of prohibited occupations and unacceptable workplaces and tasks for minors under the age of 16. These include:

• Sales: Door-to-door sales are prohibited except for sales related to churches, scouts, schools, and charitable organizations.
• Heavy Machinery: Minors are not allowed to operate heavy machinery such as ladders, scaffolding, freight elevators, cranes, and hoisting machines.
• Manufacturing: Jobs in metal-producing industries including stamping, punching, cold rolling, shearing, or heating are not permitted.
• Hazardous Materials: Transporting or handling Type A and B explosives or ammunition, and jobs involving ionizing or non-ionizing radiation or radioactive substances are prohibited.
• Woodworking: Jobs in saw mills, cooperage stock mills, or where woodworking machinery is used are not allowed.
• Alcoholic Beverage Establishments: Jobs in any alcoholic beverage establishments including selling, manufacturing, bottling, or storing alcohol unless 50 percent of the workplace sales are generated from other goods are prohibited.
• Dangerous Jobs: Any job that is dangerous to the life, limbs, health, or morals of youth is also prohibited.