The small business exemption remains for now.
Paid Leave
2020 begins with the exemption intact for small businesses when it comes to Michigan’s paid sick leave mandate. Right now, businesses with less than 50 employees are spared the burden of Michigan’s law requiring employers to give workers one hour of paid medical leave for every 35 hours worked.
Just a few weeks ago, on December 18th, 2019, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled it would not issue an opinion on whether the Michigan legislature’s action that changed the Paid Sick Leave and Minimum Wage ballot was constitutional. That means the 2018 changes, supported by NFIB, which included exempting businesses with less than 50 employees stands. However, that could change. The supreme court’s decision gives Attorney General Dana Nessel the opportunity to issue an opinion that the move was unconstitutional, inviting further litigation. NFIB is reviewing all legal options and is working hard to preserve the small business exemption.
Learn more about the issue and NFIB’s efforts to protect small business from labor-backed proposals HERE.
Minimum Wage
Michigan’s minimum hourly wage increased from $9.45 to $9.65 on Jan. 1. That’s in accordance with changes made by the legislature to a labor union-backed ballot initiative called “One Fair Wage Michigan”. There is a bit of good news. It could have been worse: small business employers avoided the original ballot proposal increase of $10.65 an hour this year all the way up to $12 per hour in 2022. After that, the hourly minimum wage would have been tied to inflation.
The Small Business for a Better Michigan Committee (SBBM), co-chaired by NFIB, was successful in pulling the proposed minimum wage hike from the statewide election ballot in 2018. During the last days of the session that year, NFIB helped the efforts to keep the damage to small business at a minimum. You can read more about the minimum wage laws HERE.
