HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Starting this week, Michigan’s minimum wage is above $10 for the first time, part of a phased increase under state law.
Pay could jump even higher come late February to $13.03 per hour. Tipped workers would get a bigger increase, from $3.84 to $11.73 an hour. And by next year, the tipped minimum wage could be gone entirely, raising their pay more.
“These changes are way overdue,” said Saru Jayaraman, the president of One Fair Wage, the group behind the 2018 petition that sparked the changes.
In 2018, advocates tried raising the minimum wage to $12 by 2022 by putting it on the ballot. But Republican lawmakers prevented that from happening by jumping in and changing the law so the increase wouldn’t happen until 2030. In July 2022, a Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled that move unconstitutional. The judge ordered businesses to raise the minimum wage to $12 but agreed that order won’t take effect until Feb. 19 because the case is under appeal. Higher courts could still torpedo the pay increase.
Mike Karas, the owner of Salt and Pepper Pub in Holland Township, said the wage increase would cost him $300,000 annually.
“I know three restaurants that closed this week in Holland alone,” Karas said. “The timing is awful.”
On a typical night, he has 11 to 12 servers working on the tip credit wage. If the changes go through, he said he might have to lay off half of those employees.
“We kind of have a gun to our head,” Karas said. “We don’t have a...
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