Michigan Senate votes to gut minimum wage, sick leave bills

Michigan’s Republican-led Senate voted on Wednesday to scale back measures that would increase the minimum wage and require businesses to provide paid sick leave to employees.

The state Senate passed the two slimmed-down bills in a 26-12 vote, according to The Detroit Free Press. The newspaper noted that the vote occurred after a Senate committee made several changes to the measures and advanced them on a 3-2 party-line vote.

{mosads}The Michigan state House could vote on the legislation as soon as next week.

The minimum wage was set to reach $12 per hour by 2022, but under the new changes it won’t reach that level until 2030, according to the Free Press.

The state’s minimum wage is $9.25.

The initial sick-leave bill would have allowed employees to accrue sick leave at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. The new measure cut the ratio to one hour for every 40 worked, or 36 hours per year.

The revised measure also would exempt businesses with less than 50 employers from providing paid sick leave, according to The Associated Press.

The new measures would significantly alter laws passed earlier this year to raise the minimum wage and require employers to provide paid sick leave to workers.

Progressive groups in the state had received enough signatures to get the two issues on the general election ballot in November. However, the Republican-led legislature approved the citizen-initiated bills in September.

The Free Press noted that the legislature’s approval of the bills came with the goal of keeping them off the ballot. It also gave the body the opportunity to amend the laws with a simple majority.

“Gutting the One Fair Wage proposal after it was adopted is blatantly unconstitutional and will likely will (sic) lead to costly, time-consuming court challenges,” Pete Vargas, campaign manager for the minimum wage ballot drive, told the AP on Wednesday.