Employers are governed not only by federal wage and hour, discrimination, leave, and other such laws, but also by a patchwork of state and local employment laws. In our experience, employers are often unaware of state and local employment law changes until after the fact.
As an example, Michigan passed the Earned Sick Time Act in 2018, but before its effective date, the Michigan legislature amended the Act and adopted the Paid Medical Leave Act. The amendments to the Earned Sick Time Act were challenged in court, and the Michigan Supreme Court recently ruled that the legislature’s amendments exceeded its authority, and therefore the paid sick leave requirements revert to the law as originally drafted. The reversion to the Earned Sick Time Act originally passed in 2018 provides significantly more generous benefits to employees than the amended law, and will go into effect in Michigan beginning February 21, 2025.
Although your company may not be subject to this particular state law, the Michigan Earned Sick Time Act is a good example of employment-related laws that may be coming to your state or municipality. As such, it’s critically important that you keep abreast of state and local law developments that impact your company so you can prepare for compliance when any such laws go into effect.
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