In a significant move affecting Michigan’s labor laws, Governor Gretchen Whitmer approved legislation that maintains the current minimum wage for tipped workers and alters paid sick leave requirements for businesses. These changes come after the legislature swiftly forwarded the bills to her desk.
The updated statutes set Michigan’s state minimum wage at $12.48 per hour, while tipped employees will continue to earn just over $5 per hour. Employers are required to ensure that total earnings, including tips, reach the standard minimum wage.
Under the new sick leave law, small employers with less than 10 employees must allow workers to accumulate up to 40 hours of paid sick leave annually, whereas larger companies must permit up to 72 hours.
Whitmer highlighted the bipartisan nature of these legislative compromises, emphasizing improved wages and secured sick leave for workers. “Michigan workers deserve fair wages and benefits so they can pay the bills and take care of their family, and small businesses need our support to keep creating good jobs in Michigan,” she stated in an emailed communication.
These legislative changes override previous petition initiatives aimed at more generous labor policies. In 2018, former Governor Rick Snyder and a Republican-majority legislature preempted these initiatives to prevent them from reaching the ballot, later adopting diluted versions of the proposals.
The Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling last summer declared the “adopt-and-amend” strategy unconstitutional, described in detail in this document. This decision has led to disappointment among activists, who felt the new laws undermined their efforts to improve labor standards.
Progress Michigan Executive Director Sam Inglot expressed frustration, noting, “Hundreds of thousands of Michiganders took action to sign petitions and demand that we give workers a raise, eliminate the subminimum tipped wage, and implement paid sick leave in 2018… Advocates fought back against the Republican adopt-and-amend scheme and won, only to face the same betrayal in 2025 – this time in a bipartisan fashion.”
In light of these developments, advocacy groups are exploring various options, including legal challenges, new petition initiatives, or a referendum to contest these laws.
Business associations, however, welcomed the decision. Justin Winslow of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association remarked, “With Governor Whitmer’s signature today, thousands of community restaurants and tens of thousands of servers and bartenders can exhale, knowing their voice was heard. They can now begin the work of planning for their collective future with the knowledge that a tip credit has once again been preserved.”
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