Posts tagged Michigan Supreme Court
MICHIGAN: While you were sleeping, the law changed
March 12, 2025 // The two laws were scheduled to take effect Feb. 21. The Legislature acted minutes (not hours) before the deadline and delivered the bills to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the middle of the night. Employers went to sleep on Feb. 20, woke up to a new regulatory environment, and are scrambling to understand the laws. How did we get here? In 2018, out-of-state advocacy groups sent two ballot measures to the Legislature. One measure imposed paid sick time mandates on every employer in the state — every company, nonprofit and government entity. The other measure mandated minimum wage increases, eviscerating the tip credit that helps restaurant servers and bartenders earn well above minimum wage.
House Republicans serve up reforms for tipped wage and paid leave
January 16, 2025 // House bills 4001 and 4002, introduced by Reps. Jay Deboyer, R-Clay Township, and Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen, would modify new laws that, as of Feb. 21, will require paid time off for all employees and minimum wage for tipped wage workers. The 2024 decision by the state’s high court followed years of lawmaking, and the resulting laws, which have become a hot potato for both parties. Taken together, the new laws could increase restaurant costs by a quarter or more, according to a restaurant industry survey.
The UAW’s strike on General Motors might haunt workers
December 4, 2024 // The United Auto Workers at General Motors received a 33% pay raise as a result of last year’s strike, but GM announced another round of layoffs on Nov. 15. GM laid off 1,000 employees worldwide, including 507 workers at its Warren, Michigan, location. The news comes after GM’s tech center in Warren lost 634 jobs in August, and the company cut 1,314 jobs from its Orion plant in December, two months after the strike ended.
Wealth creators stung by Michigan minimum wage ruling
August 2, 2024 // About 40% of Michigan restaurants could go bankrupt as this ruling takes effect, Rep. Noah Arbit, D-West Bloomfield, posted on social media: “40% of restaurants across Michigan could go out of business when the tip credit skyrockets,” Arbit wrote. “Thousands of servers will be laid off. I look forward to working w/ colleagues and partners on a fix that will not leave our beloved community restaurants on a cliff-edge this winter.”
Unions must represent all covered workers, even nonmembers, Michigan Supreme Court rules
May 13, 2024 // Workers who disagree with their union’s political speech cannot be forced to subsidize that speech through dues or fees. Despite this, unions aggressively attempt to organize public sector workers, knowing that by doing so, they are choosing to represent members and nonmembers equally. By upholding a union’s duty of fair representation, the Michigan Supreme Court has ensured that these protections continue, and cut short union efforts to strongarm employees into membership.
Michigan: Unions Can’t Discriminate Against Non-Members
April 27, 2023 // Unions must not be allowed to charge non-members exorbitant fees for the right to voice complaints to their employer, according to an amicus brief filed by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy to the Michigan Supreme Court. The brief was filed in the case Technical Professional and Officeworkers Association of Michigan v. Renner. Unions have monopoly power over employment rules and conditions, including how grievances must be addressed. In this case, the union refused to represent Daniel Lee Renner in a dispute with his employer unless he paid $1,290 just to start the grievance process. The collective bargaining agreement negotiated by TPOAM prohibits individual employees like Renner from filing grievances on their own behalf. This forces those employees to obtain union representation if they wish to have their voices heard. “This policy is meant to strongarm public employees who have made it clear that they do not want to associate with a union,” said Patrick J. Wright
National Right to Work Foundation Files Brief at Michigan Supreme Court Blasting TPOAM Union’s Forced Fee Scheme
April 25, 2023 // In addition to ignoring a long line of NLRB precedents, the brief concludes, “TPOAM cavalierly defends its illegal fee on the basis that Renner made a choice to be a nonmember and he is the one requesting TPOAM assistance.” However, because Renner has a right under Michigan law to abstain from union activity, “[t]he fact TPOAM treated him differently because he exercised that statutory right is evidence it committed an unfair labor practice, not a defense.” “TPOAM union officials’ scheme forcing nonmember public employees to pay into a union grievance system is illegal, just as it was both before and during Right to Work’s enactment in Michigan,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “As the Foundation’s amicus brief shows, TPOAM’s position ignores mountains of precedent and lets union bosses keep mandating fees designed to force dissenting workers into full union membership, in obvious violation of their rights.”
Court Should Recognize That Unions Cannot Charge Nonmembers Grievance Fees
April 7, 2022 // Workers who do not belong to a union cannot be charged grievance fees, according to an amicus brief submitted today by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy to the Michigan Supreme Court. This is the second time in a year that the Michigan Supreme Court specifically requested an amicus brief from the Mackinac Center.