Update on Minimum Wage Increase

Tuesday night, Court of Claims Judge Douglas Shapiro ruled that the adopt-and-amend strategy that was utilized during the 2018 legislative session for the Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave ballot proposals was unconstitutional and that the laws that were adopted before being amended are now in effect. As a reminder, the legislature amended each of the two proposals, making them more tenable for the businesses required to implement them.
 
What does this mean?
While it is unclear at this time what the requirements are for implementation based on this ruling, a 21-day moratorium on the ruling exists, preventing its implementation until August at the very earliest. A summary of the two ballot proposals from 2018 that may be implemented as originally adopted by the legislature are as follows:

• Minimum wage would be set at $12 per hour; the tipped minimum wage would be set at $9.60 (80% of full minimum wage). In 2023 the minimum wage would be adjusted based upon inflation and the tipped minimum wage would increase to 90% of the full wage and then match it in 2024 and thereafter.
• Virtually every employer in the state, regardless of size, would be required to provide 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked (capped at 72 hours for employers with more than 10 employees and capped at 40 hours for employers with less than 10 employees).

What is next?
The state’s assistant attorney general leading the constitutionality argument filed a Motion for Stay on Wednesday afternoon, which would delay implementation of the ruling until all appeals have been exhausted if it is granted. The MRLA, through a quote from Justin Winslow picked up in the Detroit News, was referenced specifically in the motion to demonstrate the chaos and fallout that would ensue if the ruling were to be immediately impacted. If the stay is granted, it would essentially hold in abeyance implementation of the 2018 ballot proposal language detailed above until all legal appeals have been exhausted.