Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Friday to preserve Michigan’s lower minimum wage for tipped workers and to modify the law that requires most employers to provide paid sick leave.
The Democratic governor signed the bills just hours after they were sent to her by the Legislature. The state minimum wage is now $12.48 an hour. The minimum wage for tipped workers is just over $5 an hour. Employers are expected to make up the difference if salary and tips don’t meet the minimum wage.
Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees must allow workers to accrue up to 40 hours of paid sick leave. People who work for larger employers can bank up to 72 hours of sick time a year.
Whitmer said the new laws are the product of bipartisan compromises that still provide better wages and guaranteed sick leave.
"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,” said Whitmer in an emailed statement.
“I’m proud to sign these two bipartisan bills into law that will raise wages, ensure workers can take time off to care for themselves or their loved ones, and continue growing our economy."
These new laws preempt petition initiatives that would have required more generous wage and sick leave policies. The initiatives were circumvented in 2018 by then-Governor Rick Snyder and a Republican-controlled Legislature that adopted the initiatives to keep them from going to the ballot. Then, after the election, the governor and the Legislature adopted less-generous versions of the initiatives.
Last summer, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the “adopt-and-amend” strategy violated the Michigan Constitution.
The petition campaigns called the new laws a “betrayal” of their efforts to use the initiative process to improve minimum wage and sick leave standards. Activists were particularly chagrined that Democrats went along with it.
“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,” said Progress Michigan Executive Director Sam Inglot.
“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.”
Groups say they’re looking at options, including legal action, new petition initiative campaigns, or a referendum to challenge the laws on the ballot.
Business groups expressed relief at the reprieve from rules they say would have sunk many small businesses.
"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,” said Justin Winslow of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association.
“They can now begin the work of planning for their collective future with the knowledge that a tip credit has once again been preserved.”
