Just in Time Changes to Michigan Earned Sick Time Act
UPDATE: 2/21/25 at 6:35 am
Key highlight: employers with 10 or fewer employees have a delayed start of October 1, 2025.
Last last night, the Michigan Senate passed an amendment to their bill related to earned sick time. (For more details on the history/background, see the original post below.) The House had already passed their amended version and the two chambers negotiated changes. Shortly after the Senate passed the bill, the House also passed it. Now, it is on to the Governor for signature.
These highlights are taken from summaries written by Gonger News service and HRM Services, the preferred provider of HR consulting services for MVMA members.
- Small business = 10 or fewer employees
- Small businesses have a delayed start of Oct 1, 2025
- Small businesses must provide 40 hours of sick leave
- Businesses with 11 or more employees must provide 72 hours of sicktime
- Allowing cap carryover at 72 hours for accrual policies
- Sick time may be frontload at the beginning of the year which exempts businesses from the accrual requirement and carryover
- Allowing employees to take ESTA in 1-hour increments of time
- Allowing employers to impose a 120-day waiting period to access ESTA banks
- There is no pay out requirement or Allowing employers to payout for unused ESTA at time of separation with no obligation to reinstate unused hours if employee is rehired
- Allowing employer to enforce advanced notice and call-in procedures for the use of ESTA if the employer has documented those procedures and provided them to the employee in advance
- Allowing employer to enforce disciplinary procedures for employees who fail to follow established call-in/notification procedures and/or those who misuse the benefit
- Eliminating the private right of action and the rebuttable presumption
- Employees exempt from the requirement include variable hour employees, unpaid trainees, and unpaid interns
- Part-time employees would subject to proportional frontloading depending on hours worked
As the law becomes final, MVMA will provide detailed information about how the law effects veterinary practices and provide resources to help members best implement changes to comply.
Original Post
As some of you know, MVMA held a webinar with HR consultant Jodi Schafer, SPHR, SHRM-SCP detailing the affects of Michigan's Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA) on veterinary practices. The news was pretty dismal but Jodi advised that practice owners wait to see what the Michigan legislature would do to address the plethora of pain points for businesses around this Act.
Since the webinar, the Michigan House passed an amendment bill that would make ESTA significantly easier to implement. The Senate has its own version and is somewhat different but still would aleviate some of the record keeping burden. Both versions allow businesses to "front load" the required sick time.
The Senate bill passed out of committee and is expected to be taken up for a vote in the Senate in the coming few session days. If the bill passes the Senate, the two bills would "go into conference" where bill sponsors would negotiate all the points of difference. Once a single version is agreed upon, the new bills would go back to each chamber for a vote. Assuming they pass, the bill would then go to the Governor to sign.
MVMA will keep you posted!