An increase in Michigan’s minimum wage and required sick leave is set to take effect in February. This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow sit down with Chris White, Michigan director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center; and Justin Winslow, president and CEO of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association; to share their positions on the new law.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• How the new minimum wage law will affect employees and businesses
• How 9/11 influenced the Restaurant Opportunities Center
• Concerns the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association has with the rate of increase

Following the recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling connected to the state’s new minimum wage and sick leave laws, the legislation is slated to take effect early next year.

Michigan’s $10.33 minimum wage will climb above $12 by February 2025 — and to $15 an hour by 2029. Additionally, the law will require all Michigan employers to offer up to 72 hours of paid sick leave per year to their employees, and end the tip credit system.

White says the law changes are necessary for progress.

“They don’t make enough money. They are essential workers. The cost of living is going up, so wages should go up with that cost of living,” he said.

However, not all Michigan residents and business owners agree that the changes will be beneficial to the state, and especially for small businesses.

“I think the rate and the speed by which we increase the minimum wage is important to the industry, like it would be any small business operator,” Winslow said. “But for the restaurant industry specifically, the tip credit really means life or death for a lot of folks; service, restaurants, dine-in restaurants.”  

Stakeholders are now urging the Legislature to amend the laws set to take effect in February.

More from WDET:

• How Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling on minimum wage, sick leave will affect workers and businesses
• 2024 bringing boost in state minimum wage to $10.35
• Michigan appeals court ruling reverses minimum wage increase, paid sick leave revision

More from Gongwer:

• Groups push to preserve tipped wage; Singh hopeful for deal

Supporters of increasing the state’s minimum wage and earned sick leave received a ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday that’s in their favor. This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben sat down with Crain’s Detroit Business senior reporter Dave Eggert to discuss the ramifications of the ruling on the state’s businesses. 

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• The origins of the adopt and amend legislative tactic
• The future of minimum wages in Michigan
• Michigan businesses’ reaction to the increase in minimum wage and earned sick leave

The Michigan Legislature’s controversial “adopt and amend” tactic refers to the legislature adopting a ballot measure before allowing it to go to voters and then amending it significantly during the legislative session.

The Michigan Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling on Wednesday found that the legislative tactic — used by the Legislature in 2018 to gut a voter-approved ballot initiative to increase the state’s minimum wage — was “unconstitutional” because it circumvented the petition initiative process.

“It was very controversial in the moment. The legislature at the time was controlled by Republicans,” Eggert said. “Ballot initiatives generally are thought to generate extra turnout, particularly on those issues, probably for Democrats; for Republicans and business groups, they feel like the laws were unwieldy.”

The ruling, which will allow for an increase to the state’s minimum wage and tipped minimum wage — as well as an expansion of the state’s earned sick time laws — will have a big impact on local businesses.

Some critics of those changes suggest exemptions for small businesses.

“Do they go and try to go back to exempting all businesses with 50 or fewer employees? That could be a pretty tough lift in the Democratic-led legislature” Eggers said.

The new minimum wage law will take effect in February 2025. 

More from WDET:

• How Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling on minimum wage, sick leave will affect workers and businesses
• Michigan Supreme Court sets stage for minimum wage boost
• Karamo forcibly removed from Michigan GOP convention; party chooses Fink, O’Grady for state Supreme Court

More from Gongwer:

• Impossible Or Inevitable? Adopt-And-Amend Fallout Continues

Minimum wage workers in Michigan are in line for a big pay raise in February under a ruling Thursday from the state Supreme Court.

A 4-3 Supreme Court majority held that legislative Republicans in 2018, using “an unprecedented and unconstitutional act,” undermined Michigan voters’ rights to initiate and adopt laws. The decision will likely boost the current $10.33 hourly wage above $12 next year.

“What the court confirmed is the people’s right to petition is more than political, it is sacred,” said Chris White, director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan, which represents food service workers. “It’s a victory and it puts us on par with other states that are increasing their minimum wage and we’re very, very, very thankful with what the Supreme Court has decided.”

In 2018, two petition campaigns gathered enough signatures to put questions on the ballot. One would have boosted the state minimum wage and phased out a lower minimum wage for workers who get tips, and the other would have required most employers to allow workers to accrue earned sick leave. Both questions were considered very likely winners that would also draw Democrats and progressive voters to the polls.

Republican legislators, who controlled the House and the Senate at the time, held their own votes on the initiatives and adopted the measures to prevent them from going to the ballot. The Supreme Court agreed that was constitutional.

But the court held the violation occurred when the Legislature returned after the election and, in the 2018 lame duck session, altered the provisions to delay and scale back minimum wage and paid sick leave requirements to address complaints from business groups. The new versions were adopted with simple majorities. Waiting until future sessions would have required three-quarter supermajorities.

“In stopping the Republican Legislature from denying Michigan’s voters the ability to vote for these popular ballot measures, our Supreme Court has returned the power to petition the government to the people of Michigan,” said Mark Brewer, one of the attorneys who argued the case.

The dissent argued that there is no specific prohibition in the Michigan Constitution to the Legislature’s “adopt-and-amend” scheme.

Business groups bemoaned the majority decision.

“These changes will impact nearly every business across Michigan,” said Wendy Block with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. “We are preparing for the harsh realities of this decision that jobs will be lost and some businesses will be forced to close because of this unprecedented decision.”