Last updated on: December 22nd, 2022
Hours & Pay Regulations
Normal Working Hours
The term workweek shall mean a period of 7 consecutive days starting on any day selected by the employer. The weekly working hours are 40 hours.
Michigan has adopted the definition, rules, and regulations established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act related to determining when an employee’s time should be counted as hours worked for purposes of minimum wage and overtime requirements.
Travel Time in the Department of Transportation
Where an employee’s Official Work Station (OWS) is designated as Project Officer, and the said employee is directed by his/her supervisor to report directly from his/her home to a Temporary Work Station (TWS), the employee’s work time shall be calculated as follows:
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- In the event the employee’s drive time from his/her home to his/her TWS does not exceed the drive time between the employee’s home and his/her OWS by at least fifteen (15) minutes, the employee shall continue to be paid for his/her normal work day.
- In the event the employee’s drive time from his/her home to his/her TWS exceeds the drive time between the employee’s home and his/her OWS by at least fifteen (15) minutes, the employee’s work schedule may be adjusted, or should the work day not be shortened, such time shall be added to the employee’s workday and the employee shall be paid for such time at the appropriate overtime rate.
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Overtime
Most Michigan employers are required to pay employees overtime at time-and-one-half their regular rates for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a week.
Breaks
Michigan labor laws required employers to provide employees under eighteen (18) years of age with a thirty (30) minute uninterrupted rest period if scheduled to work more than five (5) continuous hours. Mich. Comp. Laws 409.112.
Michigan does not require employers to provide breaks, including lunch breaks, for workers eighteen (18) years old or older. An employer who chooses to provide a meal, lunch, or break period must complete relieving employees of their work duties for the break period to be unpaid.
Breast Feeding Break
A mother who needs to express breast milk for her child at work must be provided reasonable unpaid break time to express breast milk and must, when possible, be provided a private area to express milk that is not a bathroom, is shielded from view, and is free of intrusion from coworkers and the public, and has access to an electrical outlet.
The employer must make a reasonable effort to provide a private area to express milk. Employers are not required to provide break time if doing so would seriously disrupt operations. Breaks already provided may fulfill this requirement.
Annual Leave
Michigan does not have a paid annual leave that applies generally to private employee.
Minimum Wage
Effective January 1, 2023, under the Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act (IWOWA), the minimum wage in Michigan is $10.10/hour.
The above information on minimum wages might not be up to date & subject to change. Kindly access the DOL website for the current rates.
Special Leave
On September 5, 2018, the Michigan Legislature enacted the initiative called the “Earned Sick Time Act,” which generally required employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. The newly enacted “Paid Medical Leave Act” replaces and greatly alters the “Earned Sick Time Act” passed in September. Michigan’s new Paid Medical Leave Act (“Act”) will go into effect on March 29, 2019.
On July 19, 2022, the Michigan Court of Claims held that this adopt-and-amend procedure was unconstitutional. Unless this decision is stayed by the appeals court, the ruling will reinstate the initial, unamended laws, broadening paid sick leave available to employees. Employers with 10 or more employees must comply with the Paid Medical Leave Act (PMLA).
Accrual and Leave Carry Overs
Paid medical leave is accrued at a rate of 1 hour for every 35 actual hours worked; however, an employer is not required to allow accrual of over 1 hour in a calendar week or more than 40 hours in a benefit year. A benefit year is any consecutive 12- month period used by an employer to calculate an eligible employee’s benefits. Employees can carry over up to 40 hours of unused accrued paid medical leave from one benefit year to the next; however, employers are not required to allow employees to use more than 40 hours in a single benefit year. The time begins to accrue on the effective date or date of hire, but the employer may allow new employees to wait 90 days before using their time.
Employers can also pro-rate time for new employees. The law creates a rebuttable presumption that an employer is in compliance with the law if the employer provides the requisite hours annually. This time can include, paid vacation days, personal days, and paid time off. The law specifies time may be used in 1-hour increments unless the employer has a different increment policy and that policy is in writing in an employee handbook. The law requires the employer to pay at a pay rate equal to the greater of either the normal hourly wage, the base wage, or the applicable minimum wage rate.
This and FMLA leave of absence for employees who become parents of newly born, adopted or fostered child(ren); or who request leave to care for their newborn child. An eligible employee is entitled to a total of 12 workweeks of FMLA leave during a 12 month period. Parental leave must conclude within 12 months of the birth or placement. After exhausting FMLA leave entitlement, an employee may be eligible for a parental leave of absence for birth or adoption for up to six months, as provided in CS Regulations or the applicable collective bargaining agreement. Sick leave may not be used to substitute unpaid Parental Leave for paid leave. Parental leave taken under the FMLA may count against other parental leave entitlements.
Long Term Disability (LTD) is a self-funded program that provides income protection if you should lose wages as a result of a medical injury, illness, or pregnancy that results in a total disability of a least 14 calendar days.
Employers may not discharge or discipline an employee for taking time off from work to serve on a jury. Leave is generally unpaid.
An employee who is a victim of a crime or a representative of a crime victim is entitled to take time off from work to testify in or attend a judicial proceeding. Leave is unpaid.
Members of state or U.S. uniformed services called into active state or federal duty may take unpaid leave; the employee may also take unpaid leave to take a physical, enlist, be inducted, or attend training. The returning employee must be reinstated to the former position. An employer may not in any way discriminate against an employee or threaten to prevent an employee from enlisting in the state armed forces.