Michigan Earned Sick Time Act

There are recent substantial changes to Michigan law on the topic of sick leave, codified in the Michigan Earned Sick Time Act (“ESTA”). Now is the time to revisit your policies relating to sick leave, and, as appropriate, make internal policy adjustments or Handbook revisions given Michigan’s new law, which is in effect now.

At the midnight hour on February 21, 2025, the legislature made some last-minute changes that further modified ESTA from its original form. The most important change is that employers who frontload their ESTA time are no longer required to roll over unused time. This is a potentially financially beneficial change for employers.

Moreover, when frontloading is used, employers do not need to calculate and track accrual. However, if employer’s have chosen to use the accrual basis, rollover/carryover to the next year is mandatory. Even here, employers may cap carryover to seventy-two (72) hours. Evaluation of which basis, frontload or accrual is a subject you need to review to see which is best for your enterprise.

There were two other employer friendly changes in this expensive employee benefit. ESTA in its earlier form had a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if adverse action was taken against an employee within ninety (90) days of certain activity protected by the Act. However, under the recent revisions, there is no longer a rebuttable presumption of retaliation. ESTA has also removed the ability for employees to bring a private cause of action. Now employees who feel their employer has violated ESTA have a limited forum to seek a remedy. No private suits in multiple forums are allowed as they may only bring an administrative complaint to the Wage & Hour Division.

If you have any questions about the changes outlined above, or otherwise included in the latest revision, please don’t hesitate to contact our office where we always welcome your inquiries.