The state agencies in charge of enacting increases in the minimum wage are asking the Michigan Supreme Court to clarify their responsibilities.
The court ruled last month that the Legislature unconstitutionally slowed increases in the wage in 2018 after GOP lawmakers adopted a wage-raising petition initiative to keep it from going to voters. After the election, in which the initiative would have been on the ballot, Republicans amended the proposal to tap the brakes on the scheduled wage increases. They did the same thing to a proposal to guarantee employees paid sick leave.
In a filing with the court, two state departments said there are questions on how to address the long-delayed minimum wage increases.
“Respectfully, the Michigan Department of Treasury has read this Court’s opinion in earnest and believes there exist ambiguities as to how to interpret and implement this Court’s directives in accounting for inflation for the graduated wages for the 2025 through 2028 time period,” said the court filing. The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity asked the same question.
The departments did not have further comment on the filing. Members of the Raise the Wage campaign said there is no reason for the court to do anything other than let the hourly wage go up to $12.48 next year from the current $10.33 an hour.
Chris White with the Restaurant Opportunities Center union said he is concerned that business organizations are pressuring Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Legislature to water down the initiatives.
“I think they should just allow the administration of this to go ahead and begin the implementation, and we must keep in mind that residents and citizens of Michigan are looking forward to this,” he said. “They protected the democratic right to petition. They increased the wages.”
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Association of Michigan did not respond to requests for comment.
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