Tag: wage

LANSING, Mich. (WJRT) – State lawmakers cleared the first major hurdle to prevent changes to Michigan’s minimum wage and paid time off.

The changes initially came about due to a Supreme Court decision back in July. That decision paving the way for the state’s minimum wage to increase to $15/hour by 2028, as well as the phasing out of the tipped minimum wage and allowing for all Michiganders to earn paid sick time.

House Republicans have halting these changes this their top priority in the new legislative term. Last month, they walked off the job because Democrats would not act on the bills during the lame duck period at the end of the year.

When they took over the House this year, they made them the first two bills introduced, and now, the first two bills passed by the House.

“The legislation before us strikes a balance. It retains the current tip credit, ensuring that servers can continue to thrive with the system they want,” said Rep. Matthew Bierlein (R-Vassar). “It responsibly raises the minimum wage over time, and adjusts the earned sick leave mandate to better reflect the realities of small business.”

The two bills were passed with some bipartisan support. House Bill 4001 was approved 63-41, while House Bill 4002 was approved 67-38.

The first of the two bills would slow the normal minimum wage’s increase to $15 per hour by 2029 and keep the tipped minimum wage at 38% of the minimum wage.

At the same time, House Bill 4002 would ensure that paid sick leave requirements only apply to employers with more than 50 workers.

“The servers, the restaurants, and their clientele they cannot afford for the legislature to not act,” said Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland).

Despite the bipartisan support, Democrats raised some concerns that the bills were overturning the will of the people. They say the changes to paid time off in particular would prevent the vast majority of Michiganders from being able to take advantage.

“Right now, more than 1.7 million Michiganders lack access to even one hour of paid sick time. (…) This bill will worsen the crisis by reducing protections for thousands more workers,” said Rep. Tonya Myers Phillips (D-Detroit).

House Democrats attempted to find a compromise by offering over a dozen amendments across both bills that would keep things closer to the Supreme Court decision.

“Big money stakeholders have tried to scare workers into believing their tips will go away if their wage is raised. This is simply not true. In California, tipped workers make 16.50 an hour and they still have the highest tipping rate in the country at 23 percent,” said Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing).

Amendments included expanding the on-ramp to increasing the minimum wage and implementing paid time off for small businesses, as well as strengthening the language to make it harder for employees to no-call, no-show without consequences.

The latter was indicated to be a major problem by businesses when the bill was in committee, but all proposed amendments were quickly shot down.

“Those of us in this chamber are legislators. We make the law, not our current activist Supreme Court. Our job today is to do the will of the people of Michigan and not that of an out of state advocacy organization that is disconnected with the workers in the state of Michigan,” said Rep. Jamie Thompson (R-Brownstown Township).

This fight is far from over. Now the bills go to the Senate, who has already introduced a completely different version of the same package.

Meanwhile if no action is taken, the high court’s decision goes into effect on February 21.