Changes to Michigan's minimum wage laws have been prevented, at least for the moment, thanks to a ruling from a panel of state judges.
On Thursday, a three-judge Court of Appeals panel in Michigan ruled the state Legislature acted constitutionally in 2018 when it adopted a pair of ballot initiatives and then amended them within the same session. One of those petition initiatives sought to raise Michigan's minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2022 and raise and eventually eliminate the tipped minimum wage. The tipped minimum wage is the lower hourly rate given to workers who are expected to make the bulk of their wages through tips, like bartenders and restaurant servers.
The Michigan Legislature, controlled by Republicans at the time, adopted the petition language but amended it to delay the increase to $12 an hour until 2030. The adopted language also maintained the tipped minimum wage at 38% of the regular minimum wage.
Mothering Justice, a group advocating for adopting the petition initiatives as they were originally written, sued the Legislature for its handling of the initiative language. In July, Court of Claims Judge Douglas Shapiro sided with Mothering Justice, issuing an order that would've changed the minimum wage to what it was originally intended to be by the initiative organizers — starting Feb. 19, the hourly minimum wage would've been $13.03, while the tipped...
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