Skip to main content

Updated: Michigan Legislature Moves Quickly to Amend Minimum Wage & Paid Sick Leave Legislation


Back in September, the Michigan Legislature approved a minimum wage and paid sick leave bill over the objection of many Democrats.   Passage of the minimum wage bill would result in the hourly pay rate in the state rising from $9.25/hour up to $12/hour by 2022.  For tipped workers, their hourly wage rate would go from $3.52/hour up to the minimum wage rate of $12/hour by 2024.  As for paid sick leave, the Legislature approved a bill that would allow employees in the state to earn one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, depending on the size of their employer.

Democrats were quick to call foul, mainly because they wanted voters in the state to approve the measures.  Since the Michigan Legislature approved the legislation prior to a November vote, the Legislature retained sole authority to amend either piece of legislation by a majority vote before the minimum wage hike and paid sick leave went into effect next March.

Well it turns out that the Legislature did just that last week.  Last Wednesday, Senate Republicans voted to slow the minimum wage hike, raising the hourly wage rate to $12/hour by 2030 rather than 2022.  As well, Senate Republicans voted to cap the tipped worker wage rate at $4/hour, rather than eventually rising to $12/hour.  As for paid sick leave, it has been scaled back to exempt employers with fewer than 50 employees and limits the minimum number of paid sick leave hours employers would have to provide all the way down to 36 hours per year.

The Senate Majority Leader, Arlan Meekhof, stated these amendments were done following calls by business owners and citizens to “make sure Michigan continues on its economic progress.”  However, Democrats derided the Majority Leader’s reasoning and labeled the move a bait and switch tactic and not in the spirit of what voters in Michigan want.  While these amendments now head to the House for further review and a vote, it appears that Republicans in the Legislature are well on their way to amending both pieces of legislation in short order.


For additional information:  https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/11/28/gop-michigan-minimum-wage-leave/2136112002/

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, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

Happening Tomorrow: Connecticut’s Minimum Wage Increases

For those employers and employees alike in Connecticut, mark your calendars as tomorrow, the minimum wage rate increases in the state from $13/hour to $14/hour. This wage hike comes after Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont had signed Public Act 19-4 into law in 2019 which progressively raised the state’s hourly minimum wage rate every year for five years.  In fact, next year, the hourly wage rate will top out at $15/hour.  Beginning in January of 2024, the hourly wage rate will be indexed to the employment cost index. For additional information:   https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/06-2022/Governor-Lamont-Reminds-Residents-That-Minimum-Wage-Is-Scheduled-To-Increase-on-Friday
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more