Union: ‘Every worker deserves’ benefits of pending paid sick time law

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Michigan labor group is urging lawmakers to keep a new law in place that will soon expand paid sick time requirements across the state.

The law is set to go into effect early next year and has faced pushback from business owners. Restaurateurs have said the way the sick time expansion is designed could put small businesses in a tough spot with staffing.

But Ryan Sebolt, the director of government affairs for the Michigan AFL-CIO, said the change is long overdue, adding that sick time is a fundamental right.

“Every worker deserves this benefit,” Sebolt told News 8 Thursday. “This is about people treating people with dignity of being human beings.”

In July, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the state’s current laws on paid sick time were installed unconstitutionally by lawmakers in 2018.

Back then, the Legislature adopted language from two citizen-led ballot initiatives that would have increased the state’s minimum wage and paid sick time. After lawmakers adopted that proposal, they quickly changed it , lowering the minimum wage increases and scaling back the paid sick time expansion.

The judges ruled that process, known as “adopt and amend,” is unconstitutional. In turn, the court ordered the state to implement the proposals in their original form. In addition to a minimum wage increase, the state’s Earned Sick Time Act will become official in February.

Michigan employees, except for those employed by the federal government, will earn one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. Businesses with 10 or more workers would need to allow at least 72 hours of paid sick time a year. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees must give out at least 40 hours of paid sick time each year, plus an additional 32 hours of unpaid sick time.

Sebolt said workers deserve to have enough sick time because these kinds of situations come up.

“I think every parent out there knows the panic of having a sick kid and not being able to take care of their kid when they’re sick, being able to take care of themselves when they’re sick or being able to take care of one of their parents when they’re sick,” he said.

Nearly 100 business owners came together at the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce this week to generate five proposals to change the law. The big recommendation was that small businesses with fewer than 50 employees should be exempt from the law.

“You think about the impact that could have on the rest of the staff if somebody doesn’t show up for several days,” Joshua Lunger, the vice president of government affairs for the chamber, told News 8 Wednesday. “The small business doesn’t have backup people waiting in the stands.”

Sebolt disagreed that small businesses shouldn’t have to follow the paid sick time requirement.

“Their employees get sick, too,” Sebolt said. “Their family members have medical emergencies, too.”

The business owners also proposed that employers that already give out at least 72 hours of sick time should be exempt from the law. They also want to change part of the law stating that employers should call off “as soon as practicable.” They worry that means workers may simply not show up without any notification at all — “no call, no show” — perhaps forcing restaurants to close because they’re short on staff.

“You can’t have it where someone can just not communicate and not show up without good cause,” Lunger said. “I think everyone agrees we want to be respectful if people have real issues, real medical emergencies or their family does, but the way it’s written it’s not really, it’s not implementable.”

Sebolt said workers should be able to focus on getting better first.

“Medical emergencies happen,” he said. “Nobody’s thought, ‘Oh no, I have to call my boss in the next 10 minutes.’ I think it’s important to realize life isn’t always planned out.”

Lunger said business leaders have been in contact with a bipartisan group of state legislators and feel encouraged by those conversations.

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