Michigan’s Supreme Court has reinstated a previous version of the state’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA). The decision was based on the court’s finding that the state legislature had acted improperly when it adopted the 2018 voter-initiated version of ESTA and then amended it within the same legislative session. The resulting amended legislation, the Michigan Paid Medical Leave Act (PMLA), has been in effect since March 2019. The court’s ruling reinstates the original version of ESTA, which was broader than the PMLA in its scope of coverage as well as more generous in terms of the paid leave benefits it provided to employees. As a result, significant changes to Michigan’s paid leave program will impact employers beginning February 1, 2025.

• Any Michigan employer with one or more employees must provide their employees with paid sick leave (PSL).
• Sick leave may not be front-loaded, but must instead be allowed to accrue at the rate of one hour of PSL per 30 hours worked
• Employers with fewer than 10 employees must allow their employees to accrue up to 40 hours of PSL per year, with an additional 32 hours of unpaid sick time allowed; employers with 10 or more employees must provide up to 72 hours of PSL per year.
• The definition of “family member” is expanded to include anyone related to the employee by “affinity”; however, ESTA does not define “affinity”.
• Employees may use their PSL for the following reasons:
  • Employee’s or family member’s illness or injury
  • Sexual assault or domestic violence impacting the employee or employee’s family member
  • Certain business or school closures
• Employers may not require employees to provide documentation to substantiate their leave requests unless an employee is taking three or more sick days consecutively. If the employee incurs out-of-pocket costs for obtaining the documentation required by the employer, the employer must provide reimbursement.
• The ruling also impacted Michigan’s Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act; as a result, Michigan’s minimum wage will increase to $10 per hour, plus an inflation adjustment as determined by the state treasurer, on February 1, 2025. The minimum wage will increase each year thereafter until it reaches $12 per hour, adjusted for inflation, on February 21, 2028.