Client Alert - Changes to the State’s Paid Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Requirements

View PDF

A July 31, 2024 Michigan Supreme Court Decision, Mothering Justice v. Michigan Attorney General, Results in Significant Changes to the State’s Paid Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Requirements.

The Michigan Supreme Court recently issued a decision that reinstates the provisions of a 2018 ballot initiative concerning sick leave and the minimum wage, which differ significantly from current law.

These changes will go into effect on February 21, 2025 unless the Michigan Legislature acts to amend them. Some of the key changes are as follows:

All Michigan employers, except for the U.S. government, are covered.
All employees of a covered employer (including part-time employees), are covered.
Covered employers must accrue sick time for covered employees, at a rate of at least one hour of earned sick time for every 30 hours worked. Existing combined PTO banks would need to be converted to comply.
Employers with 10 or more employees, as defined by the ESTA, must allow employees to use up to 72 hours of paid earned sick time per year. Smaller employers must allow a combination of 40 hours paid and 32 hours unpaid leave.
The state minimum wage rate will be $10.00 plus the state treasurer’s inflation adjustment, which has yet to be calculated and released.
Future increases will be calculated annually based on inflation as specified in the IWOWA.
The existing “tip credit” provisions employers of tipped employees currently utilize to calculate whether they have been paid minimum wage will be phased out over a period of years and eliminated entirely by February 21, 2029.

How Schenk & Bruetsch Attorneys Can Assist Your Company

Schenk & Bruetsch is prepared to advise you with respect to this change in the law to ensure your company is compliant and can assist with revising your company’s handbook and on-boarding documents. Since the law could still change before the effective date, this issue should be monitored closely to achieve timely compliance when the new law takes effect. Contact Partners Matthew Schenk at Matthew.Schenk@SBDetroit.com or (313) 492-5949, or Lindsey Johnson at Lindsey.Johnson@SBDetroit.com for more information.

Schenk & Bruetsch PLC is a premier boutique business law firm. Learn more at www.SBDetroit.com

Categories: Firm News

★★★★★

“I called upon the services of attorney Matthew Schenk of Schenk & Bruetsch to help me with an extremely urgent and difficult matter to expedite the processing of some critical documents by the city (Detroit), county (Wayne) and state (Michigan). Even under the best times, this is something that would have taken weeks. I needed results in a few days. To make matters more difficult, this was during COVID, so instead of even weeks, I was told by government officials that it would likely take 2-3 months. Having known Mr. Schenk’s background and reputation, I asked if there was anything he could do to help, as I had reached dead ends on all fronts, and failure in this matter was not an option for me. He promptly began making calls to his close connections at all government levels, and within three days (!!) I had everything completed. Amazing.”

– John T., Royal Oak, Michigan

★★★★★

“During my tenure as SVP & General Counsel for Litigation for a major financial institution, I worked with local Detroit and national firms on a regular basis. Tom Bruetsch was one of the Detroit attorneys that I worked with on several matters. I found him to be accessible, an excellent strategist and reasonable in his advice and the time he spent on our projects. As the in-house counsel, I appreciated the fact that Tom understood that I was ultimately responsible for the outcome of the matter and he worked very diligently to ensure I was part of the litigation team. I was involved in most, if not all, strategy and preparation sessions and was provided plenty of time to review significant pleadings prior to their being filed with the court. Such attention to the client relationship was not something that I found across attorneys I worked with. Tom had that in spades. I would highly recommend him for your litigation matters.”

– Terri R.

Located in Downtown Detroit.
Click for Garage/Parking Details

Schenk & Bruetsch PLC

211 West Fort Street, Suite 1410

Detroit, MI 48226

Phone: 313-774-1000

Email:

Client Alert - Changes to the State’s Paid Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Requirements

Practice Areas

For More Information

Contact Us