A bill to preserve the tip credit for servers, as well as another bill amending the paid sick leave initiative, were both introduced in the Senate last week.
SB 1171, sponsored by Sen. Dave Hildenbrand (R-Lowell), would preserve the tip credit for servers, which would fly in the face of the minimum wage initiative approved by the Legislature earlier this year that would eliminate the tip credit and eventually bring those workers’ wages up $12 an hour.
“We appreciate Sen. Hildenbrand introducing this legislation to keep servers and bartenders safe from outside influences trying to disrupt our livelihoods, industry, and culture that we know and love” says Daniel Tucker, a manager and server at Lansing Brewing Co. and a captain for Restaurant Workers of America (RWA), in a press release. The RWA has been advocating for preservation of the tip credit.
Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) is the sponsor of SB 1175, which would amend the paid sick leave initiative also approved earlier this year to remove certain provisions that call for a rebuttable presumption that an employer has violated the act if an employer takes an “adverse personnel action” against someone, including if a person files a complaint with the state or court alleging a violation of the paid sick leave act.
Mi Time to Care, the group that pushed the paid sick leave proposal and continues to advocate for it, raised questions about the Legislature wanting to amend the proposal.
“Right now Michigan law guarantees every worker the right to earn paid sick time. The policy’s overwhelming popularity made it certain to pass had it gone to the ballot. Why would the Senate enact something the people of Michigan clearly want, only to change it?” said Kyle DeBuc, director of policy, advocacy and government relations at United Way for Southeastern Michigan, a steering committee member of MI Time to Care, in a press release.
Both bills have been sent to the Senate Government Operations Committee, chaired by Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof (R-West Olive).