By Nick Smith
Staff Writer
Posted: September 11, 2024 5:50 PM

Stakeholders urging the Legislature to amend laws set to take effect in February that would increase the minimum wage and require paid sick leave to employees believe there is bipartisan support growing for a solution.

A fix is needed before the end of year, officials said, to prevent wage and job losses in the hospitality sector.

"Let's get some bills in in September so we have some vehicles for lame duck and then let's continue the conversation," John McNamara, vice president of government affairs with the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, said. "Let's not let this get lost in what can be a very, could be a very, very long and messy lame duck."

McNamara added he was confident the Legislature could come to some bipartisan agreement, acknowledging it might come "later than the industry wants" but hopefully by the end of the year.

His comments followed a roundtable with servers and hospitality workers at Nuthouse Sports Grill in Lansing. It was one of a series of recent events held across the state.

The Michigan Supreme Court in July ruled that two voter-initiated measures were unconstitutionally adopted and amended several years ago involving worker wages and mandated paid sick time.

Under the ruling, the tip credit will be completely phased out to the full minimum wage by February 2029, while the minimum wage would be $12 per hour plus the inflationary adjustments made by the state in February 2028. Mandated paid sick time for workers is also enacted under the ruling.

Business groups have warned that the decision would devastate small businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector, unless legislative action is taken before the measures take effect in February.

So have servers and bartenders, who on Wednesday told lawmakers the law changes if left to take effect would trickle down to businesses through job losses and a decrease in customers.

Democratic leadership and Governor Gretchen Whitmer have said little publicly about what, if anything, they might do.

Sen. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) said he anticipates there being ongoing discussions over the next few months to work out a solution, with an important part of the process now being to gather input from those affected by the law.

"Hopefully we'll … find a landing place that makes everyone whole from a financial standpoint," Singh said. "That's what we really want to do, is make sure that people are getting the increase of wages that was the initial intent behind this ballot initiative from 2018."

The groups that led the 2018 petitions to raise the minimum wage and enact paid sick time have defended them as important quality of life policies and warned against softening them.

John Sellek, spokesperson for Save MI Tips, said it was important for people to understand that many servers and bartenders make above the minimum wage on good nights and the changes in the law are not a pay raise for them.

The support to find a solution exists and is bipartisan, Sellek said.

"Some legislators are more ready to say they're on our side than others," Sellek said. "In particular, legislators who have already worked in the industry, they were a server or a busser or a bartender at some point in their past lives, Democrats and Republicans, they are right on board with us, right away."

He used the example of multiple Democratic lawmakers at an event in Macomb County who worked in the hospitality sector in the past who were supportive of finding a solution.

"This is not only good policy, but it's good politics," Sellek said. "Honestly, if you're running for reelection and you have a huge swath of your working-class people in your district saying: 'my income is going to be slashed by half, but you can do something about it,' it happens to be one of those opportunities where good policy also equals good politics."