This week the House passed, and the Senate approved, changes to Michigan’s minimum wage and paid sick time laws. The two citizens’ initiatives were headed for the ballot when the legislature voted to approve of both earlier this fall. If they hadn’t acted the two initiatives would have been placed on the General Election ballot. Introduced by the Senate, the two bills moved quickly through the Senate last week and through the House this week. Additionally, the Senate voted to approve of the House changes the same day they were made. The legislation was presented to Governor Rick Snyder for his consideration. He hasn’t publicly indicated his intentions on the two bills.

Minimum Wage:

The first citizens’ initiative would have raised the minimum wage incrementally to$12/hour by January 1, 2022 and would have raised tipped employees wage incrementally until it matched the $12/hour for non-tipped employees. Under the Senate changes the minimum wage of $12/hour wouldn’t be reached until 2030.However, the House proposed increasing the minimum wage to $12.05/hour by 2030.For tipped employees, the initiative would have incrementally raised the minimum the rate to 33% of the state’s minimum wage by 2020 ($4/hour). Under the House version, the rate would be 38% of the state’s minimum wage.

Paid Sick Time:

The second citizens’ initiative expanded the state’s sick time leave laws. It created the Earned Sick Time Act, providing workers with one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, capped at 72 hours per year. Last week, the Senate voted to amend the law to one hour of sick leave earned for every 40 hours worked, with a cap of 36 hours per year. Workers wouldn’t be eligible to use the time until they’ve worked for the same employer for one year. Additionally,employers with fewer than 50 employees were exempt. The House amended the Senate bill to state employees would earn one hour of sick leave for every 35 hours worked, with a cap of 40 hours per year. Additionally, an employee could begin using the accrued sick time after they’ve been employed for 90 days.

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