Advocacy News – Oct. 31, 2024
What’s happening: Over 600 employers from across the state participated in a live Q&A forum with the MI Chamber and Honigman yesterday to address confusion and questions about implementation of the new earned sick time and minimum wage laws, slated to take effect on Feb. 21.
Why it matters: Since the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision came down in July, the Chamber has answered hundreds of questions for business leaders about the new laws, with many voicing frustration about the finer details of the requirements and frustrations about how the Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA), in particular, needs to be implemented.
The Honigman forum addressed several questions from attendees, including:
- Exemptions – Many businesses wrongly assume there are exemptions in the ESTA – but there are not. As written, the law applies to any business that employs one or more employees. It also impacts all employees: full-time, part-time, seasonal, minors, temporary, and more. ESTA applies to traditional businesses as well as nonprofits, local units of government, schools, unionized entities, and more.
- Allowable usage – Time can be used for the employee, his/her family member or equivalent for physical or mental illness, injury, or health condition; medical diagnosis, care or treatment; preventative care; closure of the employee’s primary workplace or a school by order of a public official due to a public health emergency; exposure to a communicable disease that would jeopardize the health of others as determined by health authorities or a health care provider; and sexual assault/domestic violence.
- Accrual – All employees must accrue one hour for every 30 hours worked; there is no cap on time that can be accrued on a weekly basis. There are no guaranteed minimums (e.g., if an employee works one day per month). There also is no cap on the amount of time that may be accrued annually but the employer may cap usage at 72 hours each year. All unused time must carry over from year to year (no limit).
- Small businesses – Businesses with fewer than 10 employees must be provided up to 40 hours of paid, 32 hours unpaid leave. Employees must be allowed to use paid time first.
- Increments – Time may be used “in the smaller of hourly increments or the smallest increment that the employer’s payroll system uses to account for absences or use of other time.” (For some employers this may be 6- or 15-minutes.)
- Waiting period – Time must begin to accrue on the date of hire or on Feb. 21, but a new employee may be required to wait 90 days to begin using his/her time.
- One PTO bank – The ESTA does not require employers to layer an additional 72 hours of time on top of their existing paid time off policies. In fact, many employers are working to determine how to reconfigure their existing PTO to comply with ESTA. For most, it will require changes because, while ESTA says an employer can have one PTO bank (that combines vacation, personal and sick days), time must be used “for the same purposes and under the same conditions as provided in this act and that is accrued at a rate equal to or greater than the rate” required by ESTA. Strategies to do so were discussed in the webinar.
- Advanced notice and attendance policies – ESTA allows employers to request seven days advanced notice when the need for leave is “foreseeable” but “as soon as practicable” when it is not. Many employers have concerns about abuses and how this will work with their current attendance policies. Employers are limited in what they can do, but some strategies to address this were discussed.
What now: The MI Chamber continues to advocate for changes prior to the end of 2024 making these laws more workable and implementable for employers. We are working to get legislation introduced the week of Nov. 11 for consideration as the Legislature heads into its Lame Duck session in December. Nothing is guaranteed so it’s imperative that business leaders continue to engage and make their voices heard with lawmakers.
- Click HERE or HERE to engage. Contact Wendy Block with questions or to get involved.
Missed it?: Catch the recording now– free for members, $25 for nonmembers.
Upcoming sessions: The Chamber will host two more live FAQ sessions with employment law attorneys this year. The next one is on Nov. 19 with Butzel. Register now!