LANSING – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed two bipartisan bills to protect Michigan families from rising costs and inflation, including raising the state’s minimum wage and expanding paid sick leave policies.
After much debate and delay, a bill modifying Michigan’s paid sick leave policy was passed in Lansing Thursday night, just before the deadline of midnight.
The original law required all businesses to allow employees to earn unpaid sick time, which some in the restaurant industry feared would cripple and shutter many mom-and-pop establishments.
The new bill (House Bill 4002) gives small businesses until October to figure out how to provide all employees with 40 hours of paid leave.
Republican State Representative Mike Harris of Waterford called it a “compromise bill.”
“You know, our clerk staff worked as quickly as possible to get this ready to present to the governor. We presented it to the governor’s office around 1:30 a.m.,” Harris told WWJ Newsradio 950 on Friday morning.
“And of course we wanted to resolve this issue months ago, so workers and small businesses weren’t just hanging out in limbo,” he told reporters. “But we’re glad we got the deal done with the Senate Democrats.”
The Senate narrowly passed the bill, allowing it to take effect immediately.
Under this bill, a small business, defined as having 10 or fewer employees, would be required to provide 40 hours of paid sick time, as opposed to 72 hours for all other employers.
Harris stated that the bill allows small businesses to implement the law by October 1, 2025, while new businesses will have a three-year grace period. Larger businesses will have to start right away.
Employees can use paid sick time under this legislation to address their physical or mental health needs, the needs of a family member, or meetings at a child’s school or a place of care related to a child’s health. It can also be used when a workplace is closed due to a public health emergency to care for a child or family member who is unable to attend school or work. (Read more here).
The bill does require workers to give a 7-day notice for foreseeable absences and to notify employers as soon as possible for unforeseeable absences.
Lawmakers linked the legislation to a separate minimum wage bill. Earlier this week, the Michigan House passed Senate Bill 8, which would prevent the lower minimum wage for tipped workers from being phased out.
This bill would raise the state minimum wage to $15 by 2027 and increase the tipped minimum wage from 38% to 50% by 2031, rather than eliminating it.
“There’s a lot of concern out there about tipped employees, and how that (phasing out the lower minimum wage for servers) might affect tipping behavior at the table,” said Wendy Block of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, speaking live on WWJ. “And so the legislature found a solution to increase the wage that tipped employees make, without fully eliminating that tipped minimum wage.”
Block stated that the public should be aware that under this bill, tipped employees will continue to be paid only 38% of the standard minimum wage.
“Overall, for your listeners, what they need to know is that the law has not changed for tipped employees,” she explained. “So you should continue to tip at the table as you normally have.”
According to a press release from the governor’s office, this legislation strengthens the Whitmer-Gilchrist administration’s commitment to supporting working families and small businesses by forging a commonsense solution that keeps Michigan competitive for earning a paycheck and growing your business.
“Michigan workers deserve fair wages and benefits so they can pay the bills and take care of their family, and small businesses needs our support to keep creating good jobs in Michigan,” according to Whitmer in a statement.
“I am pleased to sign these two bipartisan bills into law, which will raise wages, ensure workers can take time off to care for themselves or their loved ones, and continue to grow our economy.
This commonsense compromise was made possible by Republicans and Democrats working together to reach a fair, bipartisan agreement.
I hope we can build on this momentum to continue passing commonsense, bipartisan legislation that improves people’s lives. I will continue to collaborate with anyone who can help protect working families and ensure our economy’s competitiveness.
This follows the Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that changes sought by a 2018 ballot initiative, which were adopted by the Legislature and then amended before becoming law, would take effect if lawmakers did not act to amend them.
