Michigan Paid Sick Leave Explained: 72 Hours and the Court That Restored It

Michigan has the largest annual paid sick leave entitlement of any state that sets one. Under the Earned Sick Time Act an employer with more than ten employees owes 72 hours a year, accrued at one hour for every 30 hours worked. That is nearly two working weeks, and it is 32 hours more than the 40 that most state legislatures settled on.

It is also the state where a national employer is most likely to be quietly short. A payroll rule written to the common 40-hour figure and applied everywhere satisfies most of the country and underpays every Michigan employee who works the hours to earn above it.

How Michigan ended up here

The Act began as a ballot initiative. Rather than let it go to the voters, the legislature adopted it and then amended it substantially in the same session, cutting the entitlement. The Michigan Supreme Court held that the adopt-and-amend manoeuvre was unconstitutional and reinstated the initiative as originally written, with an effective date in early 2025. The legislature then passed a further amendment, which is where the current small-business tier and the compliance timing come from.

The practical consequence is that Michigan has had three different versions of the same law inside a short period. Any Michigan handbook paragraph or payroll accrual rule that has not been touched since before 2025 is almost certainly describing a version that was superseded.

Two tiers, one accrual rate

Accrual is one hour for every 30 hours worked at every employer. Only the annual ceiling moves: 72 hours above ten employees, 40 hours at ten or fewer. Unused hours carry forward, and front-loading the full annual amount at the start of the year removes the carryover administration.

The small-business tier is a smaller number rather than an exemption. Everything else, including the permitted uses, the notice rules, the prohibition on retaliation and the record-keeping duty, applies identically to a six-person employer and a six-hundred-person one.

Notice, documentation and what the hours cover

An employer may require advance notice where the need for leave is foreseeable, and notice as soon as practicable where it is not. Documentation may be required only once an absence runs to consecutive days, and the employee gets a reasonable period to produce it rather than being asked at the door.

The permitted uses run past illness. They include preventive care, care for family members under a definition wider than most handbooks use, absence arising from domestic violence or sexual assault, and closure of the workplace or of a child's school by public order for a health-related reason. A Michigan policy limited to the employee's own sickness is describing a fraction of the entitlement.

No city layer, by statute

Michigan is one of the few large states where the state figure is the complete answer. The Local Government Labor Regulatory Limitation Act, 2015 PA 105, bars a local government from imposing its own wage or leave requirement on a private employer, so there is no Detroit, Grand Rapids or Ann Arbor ordinance sitting above the state rule.

For a multi-site Michigan employer that is genuinely simplifying: one accrual configuration covers every address in the state. It also means the state entitlement is the only thing that can change, which is why the legislative and judicial history above is worth watching rather than filing. HR outsourcing in Michigan is mostly about making sure the version in the payroll system is the version currently in force.

Frequently Asked Questions

Source: Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Wage and Hour Division. Compare every state on paid sick leave by state. General leave information, not legal advice.