Michigan GOP Guts Minimum Wage, Paid Sick Leave Bills

LANSING, MI — The GOP has voted to gut proposals to raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour and cut the sick time employers must provide employees. The last several days have been filled with protests by hundreds of people across the Capitol, according to reports, upset over bills that change voter-approved ballot proposals and expand the authority of the Republican-controlled Legislature.

For minimum wage, instead of raising it to $12 per hour by 2022, the bill raises it to $12.05 by 2030. And tipped workers such as bartenders and wait staff, who also were supposed to see a $12-hour wage more gradually by 2024, will see their wages only rise to $4.58 by 2030.

Paid sick time, which was supposed to accrue to one hour for every 30 hours worked, or 72 hours per year, was cut to one hour for every 35 hours worked, or a maximum of 40 hours per year. And businesses with 50 or fewer employees were exempted from the paid sick time provisions.

The committee sent the proposals to the full House, which approved the bills on votes of 60-48 with three Republicans — Reps. Joe Bellino of Monroe, Martin Howrylak of Troy and Jeff Yaroch of Richmond — joining all the Democrats in opposing the legislation. The Senate quickly concurred with the changes in the bills — SB 1171 and 1175 — on votes of 26-12 with Sen. Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights, joining all the Democrats in opposing the legislation, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Gov. Rick Snyder worked on the bills with the House and Senate, but has not said yet whether he will sign the bills.

“I started waitressing in 1989 and I was making $2.52 an hour. In the span of nearly 30 years, I’ve gotten a $1 raise,” a Hazel Park waitress told the House Michigan Competitiveness Committee on Tuesday. “You’re not obligated to tip me, but you’re obligated to listen to the 373,000 people who wanted this on the ballot.”

The lame duck legislative session continues Wednesday and is expect to last through either Dec. 13 or Dec. 20.

Subscribe to Patch for more regional news and real-time alerts. Connect with Detroit Patch on Facebook. Image via Shutterstock