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JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a voter-approved law to raise the minimum wage and require paid sick leave, allowing new sick time rules to take effect Thursday.

The ruling is a win for supporters of Proposition A, which received over 57% of the vote at the polls last year. It’s a loss for business groups, who argued the ballot summary and fiscal note voters read was so flawed that it cast doubt on the original election.

The majority opinion, by Chief Justice Mary R. Russell, said the court “holds the results of the election adopting Proposition A are valid.� Five other justices concurred in Russell’s ruling; one wrote a separate opinion, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter.

While the ruling cleared the way for workers to begin accumulating sick leave benefits starting Thursday, it also increases pressure on legislative Republicans to take action to weaken the law.

Republicans in control of the Missouri Senate have repeatedly pushed a bill repealing the sick leave requirements. Democrats reported progress in negotiations but that talks fell apart twice in recent weeks during late-night Senate filibusters.

The leader of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry quickly called on the Senate to take action on the House bill rolling back Proposition A.

“Obviously, we can’t count on the courts to give us a fix. So we have to do a legislative fix if there is going to be one,� Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, said shortly after the court’s ruling Tuesday.

“We need to get back together and start negotiating again,� Bernskoetter said. “I think we’re very close.�

Senate President Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, has placed herself at the center of a pressure campaign on behalf of business owners to force a vote.

Calling the law an “economic bomb,� O’Laughlin said she believes workers will abuse the time-off provisions, leaving businesses understaffed.

After the ruling Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, D-south St. Louis County, predicted Republicans would ultimately approve legislation weakening the sick leave provisions.

“Senate Democrats will continue to fight for Missouri families and are working to protect sick leave for as many people as possible,� Beck said in a statement. “But let’s be clear — there will be countless people who should be getting sick leave after May 1 but ultimately will not because Republican politicians decided to take it away.�

Proposition A increased the minimum wage in Missouri from $12 to $13.75 an hour on Jan. 1. Another raise, to $15 an hour, is set for Jan. 1, 2026, with inflation-based increases allowed after that.

Prop A also will require Missouri businesses to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to five days per year for small businesses and seven days per year for larger businesses. Small businesses are those with fewer than 15 employees.

At issue for the two sides is a dispute over which companies are required to follow the law based on how many employees they have.

A possible change to the current law would allow companies that already have sick leave policies to use those, rather than follow the outlines of Proposition A.

In seeking to overturn the ballot measure at the Missouri Supreme Court, business groups including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry filed a petition in December arguing the measure was unconstitutional and that a ballot summary presented to voters was “insufficient, misleading, prejudicial and unfair.�

They said there were irregularities sufficient enough to cast doubt on the validity of Proposition A.

Missouri law allows the Supreme Court to order a new election if “there were irregularities of sufficient magnitude to cast doubt on the validity of the initial election.�

The high court held arguments on the case in March.

In the Tuesday opinion, the majority said the contestants “failed to show either the summary statement or the fiscal note summary were insufficient or unfair.

“Because Contestants failed to meet the much higher burden of showing an election irregularity, this Court rejects those claims,� the opinion said.

While the court said it had jurisdiction over the election contest challenge, the court also said it didn’t have original jurisdiction to decide separate constitutional challenges posed by the business groups.

In a separate opinion, Judge Robin Ransom said she disagreed the court had original jurisdiction over election contests of this nature.

But she said if the constitution allowed the court to have original jurisdiction to hear post-election ballot title challenges, “I would concur with the principal opinion’s conclusion that the ballot title here was not an irregularity casting doubt on the election.�

Kara Corches, president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber, said in a statement the court’s decision “fails to address critical concerns regarding election irregularities and constitutional violations that occurred.�

Business owners who supported Proposition A, meanwhile, cheered the court’s Tuesday opinion.

“If a small bookstore like ours can provide paid sick time to employees, so can other businesses. No one should have to work sick in order to keep a roof overhead and food on the table,� Joseph Chevalier, owner of Yellow Dog Bookshop in Columbia, said in a news release.

Kurt Erickson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.