Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA), scheduled to take effect on February 21, 2025, was amended on February 20, 2025, to provide additional clarity and administrative ease. Yesterday, both chambers of the legislature reached an agreement on an amendment to the ESTA, introducing several changes, and today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the amendment with immediate effect. Many employers had been patiently anticipating this amendment—and that anticipation has finally become a reality.

Quick Hits

• On February 21, 2025, Michigan Governor Whitmer signed an amendment to the Earned Sick Time Act, providing several employer-friendly changes.
• Employers with ten or fewer employees now have until October 1, 2025, to comply.
• Highlights of the amendment include clarifications regarding covered employer qualifications, benefit accruals, employee eligibility, and benefit amounts.

Quick History

In 2019, Michigan enacted the Paid Medical Leave Act (PMLA) in response to an adopted ballot initiative that originally called for the ESTA. At that time, employers implemented changes to their paid time-off policies to comply with the PMLA. However, after the PMLA’s implementation, litigation ensued challenging the adopt-and-amend procedure used by the legislature to move from the ESTA to the PMLA. On July 31, 2024, the litigation reached the Michigan Supreme Court, which, in a 4–3 decision, ruled that the adopt-and-amend approach was unconstitutional. The Michigan Supreme Court confirmed...

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