Posts tagged Paid Medical Leave Act.
Blogs
Clock 6 minute read

The Michigan Supreme Court has written the latest, and perhaps last, chapter of an ongoing saga affecting most Michigan employers. In Mothering Justice v. Attorney General, the Michigan Supreme Court fully restored sweeping minimum wage and paid sick leave laws, bringing finality to a legal controversy that has been churning since the laws were first proposed in 2018. Pursuant to that decision, the laws will take full effect in their original form, about six months from now, on February 21, 2025.

How We Got Here

In 2018, labor advocacy groups presented the Michigan legislature with two voter initiatives related to minimum wage (the Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act (IWOWA)) and paid sick leave (the Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA)) through the state’s citizen initiative process. Michigan’s constitution allows voter initiatives to propose legislation, and the legislature may take one of these three actions: (1) adopt “without change or amendment”; (2) reject and place the proposed legislation on the ballot; or (3) reject and propose an amendment, placing both on the ballot. As we previously explained, the Legislature quickly enacted amended versions of the IWOWA (2018 PA 368) and the ESTA, which was renamed the Paid Medical Leave Act (PMLA) (2018 PA 369), with significant changes. As we detailed here, the amended versions of these laws were less burdensome to employers.

The legislature’s actions led the initiatives’ advocates to file a legal action challenging the lawmakers’ authority to modify a voter initiative so quickly and dramatically through a process labeled “adopt and amend.”  That lawsuit has wended its way through Michigan’s courts, with the final outcome decided on July 31, 2024, echoing that of the initial holding issued in 2022: the Michigan legislature’s adoption-and-amendment of the two initiatives violated the State constitution’s provision on voter initiatives. Hence, those amendments are void as unconstitutional and the laws as originally conceived should take effect.

Blogs
Clock 3 minute read

On January 26, 2023, a Michigan appellate court panel in Mothering Justice v. Attorney General issued a ruling to halt changes to the State’s paid sick leave law and an increase to the State’s minimum wage for hourly workers that were set to go into effect on February 19, 2023. The ruling is the latest development in a saga that has been ongoing for more than four years.

Search This Blog

Blog Editors

Recent Updates

Related Services

Topics

Archives

Jump to Page

Subscribe

Sign up to receive an email notification when new Workforce Bulletin posts are published:

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.