Michigan minimum wage will top $12 an hour in February after court ruling

(The Center Square) - Michigan's Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Wednesday the state's Republican-led legislature in 2018 acted unconstitutionally when it changed the language of a petition that would raise the state’s minimum wage immediately before it became law.

The minimum wage in Michigan is currently $10.33 per hour for non-tipped workers and $3.93 per hour for tipped workers. Following the court’s decision, the minimum wage will rise to at least $12 an hour starting Feb. 21. Tipped workers will receive the same minimum wage as non-tipped by 2029.

“This is a great day for the more than 494,000 workers in Michigan who are getting a raise. We have finally prevailed over the corporate interests who tried everything they could to prevent all workers, including restaurant workers, from being paid a full, fair wage with tips on top,” President of One Fair Wage Saru Jayaraman said in a release. “Today’s court decision not only ensures that all workers in Michigan receive a raise; it also makes Michigan the eighth state to end the subminimum wage for tipped workers.”

The battle to hike Michigan’s minimum wage has raged for years. The Legislature had received initiative petitions in 2018 that proposed raising Michigan’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2027, providing paid sick leave to employees, and allowing for compensatory time in lieu of overtime.

But the Republican-led legislature at the time adopted and immediately weakened separate minimum wage and paid sick leave proposals, using the controversial “adopt and amend” tactic.

In response, One Fair Wage, Mothering Justice, and other organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the tactic. The Michigan Supreme Court has sided with the plaintiffs, allowing the wage raise to take effect.

“The Legislature was not free to adopt and amend an initiative proposal in the same legislative session just because the Constitution does not expressly prohibit adopt-and-amend,” the court ruled. “By reserving the initiative power to the people, the Constitution limits the Legislature’s role with respect to initiatives to the powers expressly conferred upon it. If a Legislature adopts an initiative into law, it may amend the law during subsequent legislative sessions.”

Many business leaders and lawmakers oppose the court’s decision, arguing raising the minimum wage and eliminating tipped wages will harm businesses and workers.

The National Federation of Independent Business-Michigan, an association of small business owners, released a statement lamenting the ruling.

“To say we are disappointed in this ruling is an understatement. After a unanimous ruling in our favor at the Appellate Court, it is hard not to see this ruling as politically motivated,” Michigan State NFIB Director Amanda Fisher said. “The implications of this ruling are going to have wide ranging negative effects on Michigan and will be a nightmare for all employers in Michigan.”

State Rep. Cam Cavitt, R-Cheboygan, called the ruling “wrong, plain and simple.”

“Judicial activists on the court disagreed with the common-sense solutions the people’s representatives developed, so they took it upon themselves to jam through a radical liberal agenda anyway,” Cavitt said. “This decision will close family restaurants that have been around for generations. The food service ‘first jobs’ we all relied on in high school will disappear. People will suffer because a few stuffy judges decided they wanted to play politician for a day.”

One Fair Wage hopes the ruling will influence other wage-related proposals nationwide.

“Michigan’s victory is not just a win for their workers but a source of hope for the entire Midwest,” Jayaraman said. “Illinois has the opportunity to follow suit and end wage practices that are relics of the past. It’s time we ensure that our workers are not only surviving but thriving.”