The Supreme Court of Michigan has issued the last word on the status of paid sick leave in the state. In a July 31 ruling, the court reinstated 2018 voter-approved ballot initiatives raising the state minimum wage and requiring employers to provide employees with paid sick leave. The ruling means that staffing agency temporary employees, who were excluded under current law, will become eligible for paid sick leave effective Feb. 21, 2025.
The ruling concludes a multiyear legal battle over whether the state legislature had the authority to effectively override the will of the voters by first adopting the initiative and then amending it, in the same legislative session, by changing many of its key provisions (one change being the exclusion of temporary employees). In a 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court held that the legislature did not have that authority.
Overruling a state court of appeals decision issued last year, the Supreme Court held that the Michigan constitution gives the legislature only three options: vote to adopt the initiatives as presented; reject the initiatives but place them on the general election ballot; or propose alternatives to the initiatives and place both the alternative and original proposals on the ballot. By instead adopting the initiatives and then amending them and avoiding the ballot, the court held that the legislature “violated the people’s constitutionally guaranteed right to propose and enact laws through the initiative process.”
Because the legislature’s amendments excluded staffing agency temporary employees from paid sick leave eligibility—the voter initiative contained no such exclusion—the court’s ruling striking down the amendments and restoring the initiative effectively nullifies the exclusion. Fortunately, the initiative—like most state paid sick leave laws—did include a waiting period, in this case by allowing employers to require that employees work at least 90 calendar days before using accrued leave. ASA has advocated for such waiting periods as reasonable and necessary measures to mitigate the compliance burden on staffing agencies.
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