News & Media
Michigan Legislature Adopts Minimum Wage Increase and Paid Sick Leave Ballot Proposals
If you have been following the ballot proposal initiatives over the last 6-12 months, there were two key human resource issues that were also approved for the November ballot:
- Increased Minimum Wage and Elimination of the Tip Credit (Michigan One Fair Wage)
- Mandated Paid Sick Leave (MI Time to Care)
Both of these initiatives were adopted by the Michigan legislature on September 5, 2018 to prevent them from going to the ballot in November, where it was predicted that both measures would pass. The decision to adopt this language preemptively is a strategic one on behalf of the legislature. It is easier to amend a law that is passed by the legislature than it is to amend a law that is passed by ballot initiative. There is signaling from the Michigan House of Representative and Michigan Senate that they plan to amend both laws to make them more workable for employers. If the legislature tries to amend a law in the same session in which it was passed, they could face legal challenges from the coalitions behind the respective initiatives. As it stands now, if nothing else changes, both of these laws are set to take effect in March of 2019.
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