A three-judge Court of Appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision, preventing Michigan’s hourly minimum wage from rising to $13.03 and changing the state’s laws on paid sick leave on Feb. 19. The ruling likely sets up a battle at the Michigan Supreme Court between advocates who pushed for the wage and sick time changes and state attorneys.
The panel, consisting of Court of Appeals Judges Christopher Murray, Michael Kelly and Michael Riordan, ruled the Michigan Legislature, controlled by Republicans at the time, did have the constitutional authority in 2018 to adopt a pair of petition initiatives and amend their respective policies, instead of having the initiatives go to the ballot that November.
In a 20-page published opinion, Murray wrote there is no explicit language in the Michigan Constitution banning the Legislature from adopting laws initially brought forward by petition initiative and amending those laws in the same legislative session.
"The constitutional convention record squarely supports the conclusion that there was no intention to place a temporal limit on when the Legislature could amend initiated laws enacted by the Legislature," Murray wrote.
Michigan's hourly minimum wage will remain at $10.10, thanks to the ruling. The tipped minimum wage remains at $3.84 an hour. The tipped minimum wage is the pay rate given to employees who are expected to make the bulk of their earnings through tips, like restaurant servers and bartenders.
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