Michigan high court repeals Adopt and Amend tactic, which watered down proposal raising minimum wage

(FOX 2) - The Michigan Supreme Court repealed the "adopt and amend" strategy that was used years ago to modify a ballot proposal in 2018 that would have raised the state's minimum wage and boosted earned sick time for hourly workers. 

The legislature enacted the proposal as law before it was placed on the ballot. Then, after election day, it voted to water down the laws and weaken the original proposal.

By a 4-3 vote, the high court ruled that a tactic was unconditional. The decision is a reversal of the Court of Appeals' ruling and a win for those seeking to raise the state's minimum wage.

The original ballot proposal called for raising the minimum wage and expanding eligibility for paid sick time. 

Businesses in the service industry like restaurants have argued the minimum wage increases would put them out of work by making it too expensive to pay workers. 

Striking down the action as unconstitutional, justices Elizabeth Welch, Richard Bernstein, Megan Cavanagh, and Kyra Bolden argued the legislature's decision "infringes upon the people's reserved power."

"We reiterate that the Legislature acted unconstitutionally when it enacted the Amended Wage Act and the Amended Earned Sick Time Act. It did not, however, act unconstitutionally when it adopted the original initiative petitions without change," the justices wrote.

It's unclear what the new minimum wage will be - however, the decision which was published on the court's website on Wednesday - declares the Wage Act and the Earned Sick Leave Act will go into effect next year.

One Fair Wage issued a statement after the ruling, calling it a "great day" for the nearly 500,000 workers in Michigan who will see an increase in their wages.

"We have finally prevailed over the corporate interests who tried everything they could to prevent all workers, including restaurant workers, from being paid a full, fair wage with tips on top," said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage. 

Original ballot proposal

The original ballot initiative was divided into two proposals: one dealing with the minimum wage and the other dealing with paid sick time.

The first section proposed raising the wage by $0.75 in the following year, as well as raising it again in subsequent years, reaching $12 by 2022.

After that, it would mandate the state treasurer to increase the minimum wage according to inflation.

The proposal would also have raised the minimum wage for tipped employees, which previously had been held at a fixed percentage of the general minimum wage. Under the proposal, that percentage would have gone up each year until it reached 100% of the minimum wage in 2024.

Additionally, it would have allowed workers to accrue 1.5 hours of paid time off for every hour of overtime. 

In the second petition, employers would be required to grant their workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours of work each week. 

Legislature adopts and amends tactic

The two ballot initiatives earned enough signatures to appear on the 2018 ballot in November. 

Instead, the legislature opted to adopt the proposal instead of waiting for people to vote on it - a function that lawmakers are allowed to use. This decision kept the proposal off the November ballot.

Then, after the election was over, the legislature voted to amend the law they had adopted, watering down the rules and significantly stripping away what it was meant to do.

Among the changes was keeping tipped employees at the same percentage they were earning while replacing the inflation-based rule that would have determined future wage increases.