LANSING (WWJ/AP) - State laws changing Michigan's minimum wage and what employers can offer workers in paid sick leave are now in effect.
On Friday, hourly pay rises from $9.25 to $9.45. For tipped workers, the minimum wage will increase from $3.52 to $3.59 per hour, and for workers age 16 and 17 years, it will increase from $7.86 to $8.03.
Businesses with more than 50 workers will also have to start offering one hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours an employee works.
Both proposals were initiated by Michigan residents to be on the November ballot, but the Republican-led Legislature approved them in September so they could be more easily altered after the election.
Under Michigan's new minimum wage law, the state's minimum wage will increase a little bit each year, to $9.65 in 2020 and $9.87 in 2021, eventually reaching $12.05 by 2030 (topping out at $4.58 per hour for tipped workers). The increase falls short of what was proposed by citizen-initiated ballot drives, which called for $10 this year and $12 by 2022. The new law also reverses a provision that would have raised the minimum wage for tipped employees to the level of other workers.
The other new law exempts employers with fewer than 50 employees from having to provide paid sick days -- a change that is estimated to leave up to 1 million employees without the benefit. It also limits the amount of annual mandatory leave at larger employers to 40 hours, instead of 72 hours as proposed by the initiative.
The state supreme court and Michigan Attorney General's office are reviewing the changes.