New Michigan Paid Medical Leave Act

On September 5^th, 2018 the Michigan Legislature adopted the Michigan Earned Sick Time Act. Michigan Legislature later revised this act during the 2018 lame duck session and the governor signed the changes into law on December 14^th, 2018.  The new name for this act is called the Paid Medical Leave Act. 

The Paid Medical Leave Act, effective March 31^st, 2019, states that employers with 50+ employees shall provide eligible employees with at least 1 hour of paid medical leave for every 35 hours worked.

Employers are not required to provide an eligible employee with the following:

• More than 1 hour of paid medical leave accrued in a calendar week
• Carry over more than 40 hours of unused accrued paid medical leave
• Use more than 40 hours of paid family medical leave in a single benefit year

Highlights:

An eligible employee is defined as an employee for whom employers are required to withhold for federal income tax purposes, however, there are several exceptions.  The following employees are not eligible to accrue paid medical leave.

• Individuals exempt from overtime requirement under the FLSA
  • Individuals who are not employed by a public agency and who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement
  • Individuals whose primary work location is not in this state
  • Individuals whose minimum hourly wage rate is determined under section 4b of the improved workforce opportunity wage act
  • Individuals employed for 25 weeks or fewer in a calendar year for a job scheduled 25 weeks or fewer
  • Certain variable hour employees
  • Individuals who worked, on average, fewer than 25 hours per week during the immediately preceding calendar year

• An employer is considered compliant with this Act if the employer provides at least 40 hours of paid leave to an eligible employee each benefit year.

Eligible employees may use paid leave for the following reasons:

• The employee’s or the covered family member’s mental or physical illness
• Absences where the employee or covered family member is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault
• For closure of the employee’s primary workplace or employees need to care for a child whose school or place of care has closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency

• An eligible employee shall, when requesting to use paid medical leave, comply with his or her employer’s usual and customary notice, procedural, and documentation requirements for requesting leave. An employer shall give an eligible employee at least 3 days to provide the employer with documentation. This Act does not prohibit an employer from disciplining or discharging an eligible employee for failing to comply with the employer’s usual and customary notice, procedural, and documentation requirements for requesting leave.
• An employer must display a poster informing eligible employees about the available paid medical leave.  The state will provide and make available to employer, at no cost, posters that contain the required information.
• Records must be retained for at least 1 year.  The records must document the hours worked and paid medical leave taken by eligible employees. 

If you would like to learn more about this act and what it means for you as an employer or an employee, check out our blog here. If you would like to look into one of BASIC’s Payroll options, request a proposal today by clicking here!

Access to Act language: