Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
EARNED SICK TIME AMENDMENTS
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
House Bill 4002 as introduced Analysis available at
Sponsor: Rep. Jay DeBoyer http://www.legislature.mi.gov
Committee: Select Committee on Protecting Michigan Employees
and Small Businesses
Complete to 1-14-25
SUMMARY:
House Bill 4002 would amend the Earned Sick Time Act to change the terms under which
employers are required to provide paid sick time to employees.
Background
Section 9 of Article II of the state constitution provides an initiative process for proposing laws
by petition. An initiative petition must be signed by a number of voters equal to 8% of the total
votes cast for all candidates for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Once
certified, the petition is presented to the legislature, which has 40 days to enact or reject it
without amending it. If the legislature enacts it, the law proposed by the petition becomes a
public act without going to the governor for approval. (The governor cannot veto such an
enactment.) If the legislature rejects it, the initiative petition is put before the voters at the next
general election. If the voters approve it, the resulting law can be amended or repealed only by
a three-fourths vote of members elected to and serving in each house of the legislature.
In addition, instead of enacting or rejecting a petition, the legislature can propose a different
measure on the same subject. In this case, both the initiative petition and the legislature’s
alternative measure go on the ballot at the next general election, and the one that receives the
most votes becomes law.
In July 2018, the legislature passed the Earned Sick Time Act 1 (2018 PA 338), an initiative
petition that was certified by the Michigan Board of Canvassers to appear on the Michigan
ballot in the November 2018 general election.2 Then, after the election, 2018 PA 369 was
enacted to amend the provisions of that act as they had been proposed by the initiative petition
and passed by the legislature. 3
In July 2024, the Michigan Supreme Court (MSC) ruled in Mothering Justice v Attorney
General that the legislature’s 2018 practice of adopting and amending proposed ballot
measures during the same legislative session is unconstitutional. 4 The court voided 2018 PA
369 and restored the Earned Sick Time Act (and the Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage
1
The act’s name was changed to the Paid Medical Leave Act when it was amended by 2018 PA 369. The name will
revert to the Earned Sick Time Act on February 21, 2025. Under the bill, the name also would be the Earned Sick
Time Act. For simplicity, this document will only use the term earned sick time.
2
https://legislature.mi.gov/documents/2017-2018/initiative/pdf/SickTimeInitiativeHouseAnalysis.pdf
3
https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2018-SB-1175
4
https://statecourtreport.org/case-tracker/mothering-justice-v-attorney-general
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 Act, a similarly adopted and amended initiative) as it was proposed by petition and originally
enacted by the legislature. The reinstated version is set to take effect on February 21, 2025. 5
Generally speaking, this document outlines the changes the bill would make to the act as it is
currently effective (as of January 14, 2025)—that is, the terms “currently” and “current law”
do not refer to the version of the act that will be revived effective February 21, 2025, under the
MSC decision.
Defining employee and employer
The act currently requires employers to provide eligible employees with paid sick time.
Employer currently means any person, firm, business, educational institution,
nonprofit agency, corporation, limited liability company, government entity, or other
entity that employs 50 or more individuals. It does not include the United States
government, another state, or a political subdivision of another state.
Eligible employee means an individual engaged in service to an employer for whom
an employer is required to withhold pay for federal income tax purposes. It would not
include any of the following:
• An individual employed by the United States government, another state, or a
political subdivision of another state.
• An individual whose primary work location is not in Michigan.
• An individual employed by an employer for 25 weeks or less in a benefit year
for a job scheduled for 25 weeks or less in a benefit year.
• An individual who worked, on average, less than 25 hours per week during the
immediately preceding benefit year or is expected to work, on average, less
than 25 hours per week in the current benefit year.
• A variable hour employee as defined in federal regulation.
• An individual employed by an air carrier as a flight deck or cabin crew member
who is subject to subchapter II of the federal Railway Labor Act.
• An employee as described in section 201 of the federal Railway Labor Act.
• An employee as defined in section 1 of the federal Railroad Unemployment
Insurance Act.
(Effective February 21, 2025, under the law as revived by the MSC decision, the term employee
will replace eligible employee in the act and will mean an individual engaged in the service of
an employer in the business of the employer, and the term employer will include any entity
described above with one or more employee, except the federal government and its employees.)
The bill would retain the term eligible employee and the current definitions of both eligible
employee and employer.
5
https://www.faegredrinker.com/en/insights/publications/2024/8/michigan-supreme-court-reinstates-voter-initiated-
sick-leave-law
For information related to the current law, see: https://www.michigan.gov/leo/bureaus-agencies/ber/wage-and-
hour/paid-medical-leave-act/pmla
For information related to the law as revived by the MSC decision effective February 21, 2025, see:
https://www.michigan.gov/leo/bureaus-agencies/ber/wage-and-hour/paid-medical-leave-act
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 Accrual of paid earned sick time
The act currently requires employers to provide eligible employees at least one hour of paid
earned sick time for every 35 hours worked. They are not required to allow the accrual of more
than one hour per calendar week and 40 hours per benefit year. In addition, employers must
allow employees to carry over up to 40 hours of paid earned sick time from one benefit year to
the next. Employers do not have to allow employees to use mor than 40 house of paid sick time
each benefit year.
Alternatively, employers can provide at least 40 hours of paid earned sick time at the beginning
of a benefit year (or a prorated amount for employees hired during the year) and are not required
to allow carryover between benefit years.
Employees can use the time as it is accrued, except that employers can require them to wait
until the ninetieth calendar day of their employment to begin using it.
Under the bill, employees would accrue at least one hour of paid earned sick time for every 30
hours worked, not including hours used as paid leave. The relevant required amounts of paid
leave described above would be increased from 40 hours to 72 hours.
Further, an employer that provided leave in a block at the beginning of the benefit year would
not have to calculate and track employee accrual of leave.
For the benefit years occurring when the bill takes effect, the required leave amounts provided
before the effective date would count toward the required amounts.
The bill also would specify that an individual that is exempt from overtime requirements under
the federal Fair Labor Standards Act is assumed to work 40 hours per workweek unless their
normal workweek is less than 40 hours.
(Note that the law as revived by the MSC decision contains provisions specific to small
businesses [those with fewer than 10 full-time employees] that allow them to cap employee
accrual and usage of earned sick time at 40 hours of paid time and 32 hours of unpaid time per
year. The bill, which would no longer apply at all to businesses with fewer than 50 employees,
would eliminate this provision.)
Pay rate
Currently, the act specifies how to calculate the wage that must be paid to employees for paid
earned sick time. The bill would add that tips do not need to be included in this calculation.
Use of paid earned sick time
Currently, the act specifies the purposes for which an employer must allow an employee to use
paid earned sick time.
The bill would add that use for meetings at a school or place of care related to the health or
disability of a child who is a family member, or the effects of domestic violence or sexual
assault on the child, is a permissible use of leave.
The bill would provide that employers cannot require employees to search for or secure a
replacement worker as a condition of using earned sick time.
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 The bill would also allow employers to require earned sick time to be taken concurrently with
any applicable leave under any of the following laws:
• The federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).
• Title I of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
• Any other applicable state or federal law.
Complying with employer requirements
The law currently requires employees to comply with the employer’s notice, procedure, and
documentation requirements when requesting to use leave. Employers must give employees at
least three days to provide the required documentation. Employers are allowed to discipline
employees if they do not follow these requirements.
The bill would provide that an employer’s notice, procedure, and documentation requirements
would need to be specified in their employee handbook or another employee benefits
document.
(Note that the law as revived by the MSC decision will allow employers to require advanced
notice from an employee of up to seven days before the foreseeable use of earned sick time, or
notice as soon as practicable for sick time that was not foreseeable.)
The bill also would allow for the discipline of an employee that misses work for three or more
consecutive workdays without contacting the employer in an manner acceptable to the
employer.
Employers could require reasonable documentation or certification (as described in the FMLA)
when earned sick time is used for three or more consecutive days. Employees would have to
provide this documentation within 15 days of an employer’s request, but employers could not
delay the commencement of earned sick time because they had not yet received documentation.
Documentation signed by a health care provider that indicates that earned sick time is necessary
would be considered reasonable documentation.
Except as otherwise required for FMLA leave used concurrently with earned sick time, an
employer could not require documentation that explains the nature of an illness. Employers
would be responsible for the cost of acquiring any required documentation.
The law as revived by the MSC decision contains provisions prohibiting retaliatory personnel
action against employees that exercise their rights under the act. The bill does not include these
provisions.
Separation from employer
Currently, if an employee is no longer employed by an employer and is then rehired, the
employer does not have to allow the employee to retain any of their previously accumulated
earned sick time.
Under the bill, the employee would be allowed to use previously accrued sick time if they were
rehired within six months of separating from the employer. Further, if a different employer
succeeded or took the place of a previous employer, the new employer would be required to
assume responsibility for the earned sick time rights of the employees.
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 The above provisions would not apply if the employer paid out the value of the accrued sick
time at the time of separation or succession.
Departmental investigations
The act currently requires the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) to
investigate claims made by employees regarding potential violations of the act and to prescribe
certain penalties for violations. Affected employees can file claims within six months of an
alleged violation.
The bill would give up to three years to file a complaint and expand the penalties that can be
recovered by LEO and granted to the affected employee from only improperly withheld sick
time to “all appropriate relief,” which could include payment of all improperly withheld earned
sick time, all direct damages incurred by the complainant as the result of the violation, back
pay, and reinstatement in the case of job loss.
In addition, the bill would require that, if the LEO director determines there is a reasonable
belief that an employer violated the act and the department is unable to obtain voluntary
compliance from the employer in a reasonable time, the department could investigate and bring
civil action on behalf of all eligible employees affected at the same work site.
Notice requirements
The act currently requires employers to display a poster with certain information in a
conspicuous place accessible to employees.
The bill would require that employers provide a notice to all eligible employees by the later of
February 21, 2025 or their date of hire that includes, at a minimum, all of the following:
• The amount of earned sick time required to be provided to an eligible employee under
this act.
• The employer’s choice of how to calculate a benefit year.
• The terms under which earned sick time may be used.
• That retaliatory personnel action taken by the employer against an eligible employee
for using earned sick time for which the eligible employee is eligible is prohibited.
• The eligible employee’s right to file a complaint with LEO for any violation of the act.
The notice would have to be in English and any other language predominantly spoken by the
employer’s workforce, if the department has translated the notice into that language. (The law
as revived by the MSC decision will require notices to be in any language spoken by at least
10% of the employers workforce, as long as LEO has published the documents in that
language.)
In addition, a poster with the above information would need to be posted in a conspicuous place
that is accessible to eligible employees, subject to the same language requirements described
above.
These posters would be created by LEO in English, Spanish, and any other language considered
appropriate.
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 Records retention
Currently, the act requires employers to maintain records documenting hours worked and
earned sick time taken for one year. Records must be open to inspection by the LEO director.
Under the bill, records would need to be maintained for three years. In the event a question
arose about whether an employer violated the act and sufficient records are not available, the
employer would presumed to have committed a violation unless rebutted by clear and
convincing evidence.
Multilingual outreach program
The bill would require LEO to develop and implement a multilingual outreach program to
inform employees, parents, and persons who are under the care of a health care provider about
the availability of earned sick time under the act. The program would need to include
distribution of notices and other written material in English and in other languages to child care
and elder care providers, domestic violence shelters, schools, hospitals, community health
centers, and other health care providers.
Employee protections
The bill would add provisions prohibiting employers and any other person from interfering
with, restraining, or denying the exercise of or attempt to exercise any rights protected by the
act, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
• Use earned sick time in accordance with the act.
• File a complaint with LEO or inform any person about any employer’s alleged violation
of the act.
• Cooperate with the department in its investigations of alleged violations of the act.
• Inform any person of the person’s rights under the act.
Collective bargaining ag