Skip to main content

Breaking: Michigan Legislature Approves Minimum Wage & Paid Leave Legislation


Yesterday, the Republican controlled Michigan House & Senate approved a minimum wage and paid sick leave bill, over the objection of many Democrats in the state’s Legislature.  In order to keep things straight, let us take a closer look at both bills.


Michigan One Fair Wage

This bill will raise the hourly minimum wage rate in the state from $9.25, up to $12 by 2022.  Perhaps one of the more talked about portions of this bill is the fact that tipped workers will also see a pay raise, going from a current hourly rate of $3.52 up to the minimum wage rate by 2024.  Members of the Legislature approved the bill with a 78 - 28 vote.

MI Time to Care

As for the paid sick leave legislation, the proposal would allow employees to earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.  Depending on the size of the employer, employees could have the option to earn up to 9 days of paid sick leave per year.  This bill was also approved with a 78 - 28 vote.


Now for the question that many readers likely have:  Both bills seem to benefit employees so why would many Democrats and labor groups oppose this legislation?  Quite simply, it is because they want voters, rather than the Michigan Legislature, to vote on minimum wage and paid sick leave.  While some Democrats supported the proposals, many more voiced their objections and demanded that voters have the final say, rather than the Legislature.

With that being said, yesterday’s passage takes this matter out of the hands of voters and puts control solely with the Legislature. Given that Republicans have majority control of the state’s House & Senate, both bills do not require the signature of the Governor and will instead go into effect automatically next March.  However, in this particular case, Republicans can amend either or both bills with a simple majority vote by the House & Senate (which they currently have) prior to the legislation becoming law.  This means that it is possible that either bill approved yesterday could look drastically different before they take effect in March.  While no specific amendments have been announced as of yet, it is worth noting that yesterday, House Speaker Tom Leonard, Republican from DeWitt, stated that he thought both bills were poorly written and needed revisions.  Read into that what you want, but if I were a betting man, I think it is more than likely we will see amendments made in the coming months.

Had voters had a say this November (and the Legislature not approved any bills beforehand), any changes to the legislation by the Michigan Legislature would have required a three fourths majority vote.  A simple majority vote is one thing; a three fourths majority vote is a whole other animal.  Perhaps even more concerning for Democrats and labor groups is the fact that should Republicans lose majority control of either the House or Senate in November, Republicans could still amend either bill during a lame duck legislative session.

For the time being, minimum wage and paid sick leave advocates have reason to be cautiously optimistic given yesterday’s vote.  That is, unless Republicans decide to do something before March...


For additional information:  https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/09/minimum_wage_hike_paid_sick_le.amp

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies i...
Post a Comment
Read more

What I've Been Reading This Week

Recently, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Commissioner, Chai Feldblum, had her re-nomination on the brink, after Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee took steps to block it .  Readers might have heard that late last week, Commissioner Feldblum's re-nomination quietly slipped away and she tweeted out a thank you to supporters and friends, acknowledging that her time at the EEOC was over.  While there has not been much in the way of a further update in regard to that ongoing saga, we wait to see how things will play out at the EEOC, now that it has lost a quorum until additional Commissioners are confirmed by the Senate. For the time being, there are other developments for readers to review this week.  In particular, I call attention to the article on managing a wage & hour audit by the Department of Labor as well as steps an employer can take to better ensure compliance with the ADA. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. ...
Post a Comment
Read more