Republican Lawmakers Undermine Paid Sick Time And Minimum Wage Laws

Democratic lawmakers and members of One Fair Wage, the civic organization that spearheaded the legislation to raise Michigan’s minimum wage laws, are outraged over what they call a cynical maneuver to reduce increases to the minimum wage and paid sick time law adopted by the Republican-led state legislature in September. By adopting the law rather than allowing it to go to the ballot, Republicans could later amend it with a simple majority instead of the two-thirds vote it would have taken to make changes had the law passed at the ballot box. On November 28th, the Republican-led legislature approved an amendment to the law passed in September, slowing the increase of the minimum wage to $12 an hour by eight years, from 2022 to 2030. Under the new paid sick time law that was adopted in September, Michigan workers would be able to accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, capped at 72 hours per year for larger businesses and 40 hours per year for small businesses. The amendment slows accrual to 1 hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked, capped at 36 hours per year. The amended law exempts businesses with fewer than 50 employees from having to offer paid sick leave, which affects more than one million Michigan workers.

For more information, visit One Fair Wage,
at mionefairwage.org

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