Michigan Governor Gretchen Witmer is proposing a deal for small business owners in The Wolverine State that would put a $15/hour minimum in place for many Michigan workers. The Governor’s plan would provide 3-month wage grants to businesses that agree to increase worker wages to $15 per hour with the grant paying the differential between…
Read More »The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) along with other advocacy groups One Fair Wage and Mothering Justice this week filed a lawsuit against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel alleging that legislative changes made to the state minimum wage law were unconstitutional. To put the issue in context, One Fair Wage initiated a petition drive in 2018…
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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought small business numerous challenges. We can now add another to the list: Employees filing increasing numbers of COVID-19 related lawsuits. In fact, according to the Fisher Phillips Employment Litigation Tracker, as of November 1, COVID-19 related lawsuits have been filed against 950 employers. The highest number of lawsuits were filed…
Read More »Restaurant owners out in California have initiated formal requests for rebates on funds they’ve paid to the state, county or municipality for permits, liquor fees, etc. since they have not been legally able to operate. Currently, most restaurants in the state are limited to 25% of capacity, and even under the best of COVID circumstances,…
Read More »It didn’t take long for the regulatory and legislative arms of Michigan state government to restore COVID-19 restrictions in the wake of the state Supreme Court invalidating certain executive orders and emergency COVID mandates of Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The good news therein however is HB6030, currently awaiting the Governor’s signature, which provides immunity for businesses…
Read More »In a major rebuke of Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled her executive orders extending the original declaration of a state of emergency violated the state constitution and was invalid. As backdrop, the Michigan legislature called a state of emergency back when the coronavirus pandemic first broke in March. That order expired however…
Read More »And it’s not only the major cities that are looking to fill their coffers off the back of hurting businesses. For example, we’d point to Michigan, where the state legislature sought to help businesses get back on their feet by passing 5 bills that all would have altered the tax liabilities of businesses within the…
Read More »Despite such reasonable rulings on overtime and the methods for overtime calculations proposed by the Trump administration, a number of states are dramatically pushing the overtime limits at the state level. On Thursday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) charged the state labor department with expanding overtime eligibility across the state, using the Obama figure as…
Read More »We advised you a couple of weeks ago that the Michigan legislature had amended the new minimum wage and paid sick leave laws they had just passed in October, and now Governor Rick Snyder has made good on his promise to sign the adjustments into law. The increase in the minimum wage and paid leave…
Read More »So at first, there are allegations of voter fraud and the like, then the obligatory calls for recount, and now the new legal phenomenon of “vote harvesting” but after all that fails, just have lame duck legislators change the powers the elected winners will have once they assume office! That is precisely what is happening…
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