Mothering Justice Decision

On July 31, 2024, the Michigan Supreme Court decided Mothering Justice et al. v. Attorney General et al. In that case, the Court reinstated two laws, the Earned Sick Time Act and the Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, that appeared on the Michigan state ballot in September 2018. After having been voted upon, the Michigan legislature amended both laws. In Mothering Justice, the Court found this amendment process to be unlawful and reinstated both laws as drafted in 2018, effective on February 21, 2025. Each has major implications for Michigan employers, as explained below:

• Earned Sick Time Act (effective February 21, 2025)

The Earned Sick Time Act has different requirements depending on the size of the employer. For employers with less than 10 employees, the law requires employees to accrue one hour of earned sick time for every thirty hours worked. These employers are permitted to cap an employee’s use of accrued earned sick time at forty hours per year, but the employees are permitted under the act to use another 32 hours of unpaid leave time in a year. Employers with more than 10 employees must allow employees to accrue earned sick time at the same rate of one hour per 30 worked. These employers, however, cannot cap the amount of earned sick time used below 72 hours per year. Despite the yearly caps on use of earned sick time, the act allows employees to carry over an unlimited amount of earned sick time from year to year.

Employees’ permissible use of earned sick time under the act is broad, covering medical and health events for the employee and family members, domestic violence and/or sexual assault, or closure of businesses or schools. Employers can only require documentation regarding the use of earned sick time when an employee takes leave for more than three consecutive days. And then, the medical provider is only required to state whether the leave was necessary.

Employers whose employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements are insulated from the requirements of the act so long as the collective bargaining agreement is in effect as of the effective date of the legislation, February 21, 2025.

Employers should be aware of the requirements under the act and make plans for implementing changes should the act go into effect in February unchanged. It is possible the Legislature may recognize the burden the act imposes on employers and make some adjustments before the effective date.

For more discussion on Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act, please review this article on Dykema’s Labor and Employment Blog.

• New Minimum Wage Law – Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act (effective February 21, 2025)

Employers must be cognizant of the new minimum wage amounts established by the Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act. The act allows minors to be compensated at a rate of 85% of the minimum hourly wage and allows employers to pay employees under the age of 20 a training wage of $4.25 per hour for the first 90 calendar days of employment.

	Regular Minimum Wage	Tip Credit Minimum
Current	$10.33 per hour	38% of minimum wage ($3.93 per hour)
January 1, 2025	$10.56 per hour	$4.01 per hour
February 21, 2025	$12.48 per hour + state treasurer’s inflation adjustment	48% of the adjusted 2025 minimum wage
February 21, 2026	$13.29 per hour + state treasurer’s inflation adjustment	60% of the minimum wage
February 21, 2027	$14.16 per hour + state treasurer’s inflation adjustment	70% of the minimum wage
February 21, 2028	$14.97 per hour + state treasurer’s inflation adjustment	80% of the minimum wage
February 21, 2029	The state treasurer will calculate the inflation-adjusted minimum wage	90% of the minimum wage
February 21, 2030	The state treasurer will calculate the inflation-adjusted minimum wage	Tip credit wage will no longer exist

For more discussion on Michigan’s Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, please review this article for a summary of the Wage Act on Dykema’s Labor and Employment Blog.[1]

Potential Michigan Salary and Pay Transparency Laws

Employers should be aware of two pending Michigan laws relating to pay transparency.

First, HB 4406 would require employers to furnish, within 30 days of an employee’s request, wage information dating back three years. That information includes compensation, overtime, bonuses, and information regarding seniority and sex of employees similarly situated to that making the request.

Second, SB142 would require employers to establish, maintain, and update a list of essential job duties, responsibilities, and skills; a description of training opportunities and work conditions; and scheduled and salary information.

While these laws have yet to go into effect, employers should prepare for their potential implementation. If implemented, Michigan would follow the recent trend of other states (i.e., Illinois, Washington, D.C., etc.) that have such salary transparency requirements.

Michigan Right to Work Repeal

In April 2024, the Michigan Legislature’s repeal of the state’s 2013 right-to-work bill went into effect. For private employees, this means that employment can be conditioned on whether the employee pays union dues or service fees. The repeal does not affect public employees. And notably, the requirement that employees pay union dues as a condition of employment is not automatically imposed. Rather, such a requirement must be negotiated into a collective bargaining agreement during normal contract renegotiations.

If the employer and union do not agree to include a union shop provision in the collective bargaining agreement, then the current status quo of there being no such requirement would continue.

For more information on and a summary of the repeal of Michigan’s right-to-work law, please review this article on Dykema’s Labor and Employment Law Blog.

To learn more about any of the legal topics above and how they impact your business or any other general questions, please contact the authors of this article or your Dykema relationship attorney.

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[1] See also Michigan Dept. of Labor & Economic Opportunity, “Michigan Minimum Wage Rate 2025 Increase Schedule,” October 1, 2024.