The Michigan Earned Sick Time Act requirements took effect on February 21, 2025, and apply to nearly every employer in the state with at least one employee. Workers accrue one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, and they can use that time for their own health, a family member’s health, domestic violence or sexual assault situations, and certain public health closures. How much time an employee can use in a year, whether the employer must track accrual hour by hour, and how notice and documentation work are all set by statute, and the amendments Governor Whitmer signed the same day the act took effect changed several of those details.
Which Employers and Workers Are Covered
Coverage is almost universal. The act reaches every public and private employer in Michigan with at least one employee. The only carve-out is the United States federal government and its employees. Full-time, part-time, and temporary workers all qualify, including staff supplied through a staffing agency.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-962 – Definitions
The statute splits employers into two categories, and the split controls how much sick time workers can use each year. A small business is one with 10 or fewer people working for compensation in a given week. An employer that has more than 10 employees on payroll during 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or prior calendar year is a standard employer. For businesses with workers in more than one state, the headcount includes all U.S. employees, not just those in Michigan.2State of Michigan. Earned Sick Time Act – Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Sick Time Employees Earn and Use
Every covered employee accrues at least one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The annual usage cap depends on the size of the employer:3Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-963 – Earned Sick Time
- Standard employers with 11 or more employees: up to 72 hours per year.
- Small businesses with 10 or fewer employees: up to 40 hours per year.
Accrual starts on the first day of work. For anyone hired after February 21, 2025, the employer can require a waiting period of up to 120 calendar days before the employee actually uses any accrued time. The hours still accrue during the wait; they just aren’t available yet.3Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-963 – Earned Sick Time
Employees can take sick time in increments as small as one hour. If an employer uses a smaller unit to track other absences, it can apply that smaller unit here too, but it can never require increments larger than one hour.
Frontloading as an Alternative to Tracking Accrual
An employer that doesn’t want to track accrual by the hour can frontload the full annual amount at the start of the benefit year. Full-time employees get 72 hours (or 40 for small businesses) all at once. Part-time employees get a proportional amount based on their expected hours, and the employer must give them a written notice of those expected hours at hire. If a part-time worker ends up working more than expected, the employer has to add proportional accrual for the extra hours.2State of Michigan. Earned Sick Time Act – Frequently Asked Questions
What Sick Time Can Be Used For
The act allows sick time for four broad categories of need:4Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-964 – Earned Sick Time Permissible Uses
- The employee’s own mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, including diagnosis, treatment, and preventive care such as routine checkups and vaccinations.
- The same health-related purposes for a covered family member.
- Medical care, counseling, victim services, legal proceedings, relocation, or legal help when the employee or a family member is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault.
- Public health emergencies: a workplace closure ordered by a public official, a child’s school or care facility closure for the same reason, or a determination by health authorities that the employee’s or family member’s presence in the community would endanger others because of exposure to a communicable disease.
Who Counts as a Family Member
Michigan’s definition is broader than most states’. Family includes biological, adopted, foster, and stepchildren, a domestic partner’s children, and any child the employee is raising in a parental role. It includes parents, stepparents, foster and adoptive parents of the employee or the employee’s spouse or domestic partner, and anyone who raised the employee. Spouses and domestic partners in same-sex or different-sex committed relationships are covered. So are grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-962 – Definitions
The definition also reaches anyone related by blood and anyone whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. That last piece is the catch-all, and it can cover a close friend who has no other support system.
Carryover and Payout at Separation
Unused sick time carries over from one year to the next, up to 72 hours for standard employers and 40 hours for small businesses. The annual usage cap still applies, so carryover doesn’t let an employee use more than the yearly limit. Employers who frontload the full amount are not required to allow any carryover.3Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-963 – Earned Sick Time
The act does not require employers to pay out unused sick time when a worker quits, retires, or is fired. If an employee moves to a different division or location with the same employer, the accrued balance goes with them.
Notice and Documentation
When the need for sick time is foreseeable, such as a planned surgery or a scheduled court date, the employee must give at least seven days’ advance notice. For unforeseeable needs, notice should be given as soon as practicable.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Earned Sick Time Act – Section 408.964
Employers can require documentation only when an absence lasts more than three consecutive days. A note from a health care professional saying the sick time was necessary is enough. The employer cannot demand that the note explain the specific illness. For absences tied to domestic violence or sexual assault, the employee chooses the type of documentation to provide, and the options include a police report, a signed statement from a victim services advocate, or a court document. The employer cannot require any detail about the violence itself.4Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-964 – Earned Sick Time Permissible Uses
One rule that catches employers off guard: if the employer requires documentation, the employer has to cover any out-of-pocket costs the employee incurs to obtain it, including provider charges for producing the specific documentation the employer asked for.4Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-964 – Earned Sick Time Permissible Uses
Posting, Recordkeeping, and Existing PTO Policies
Every workplace must display the state-issued poster summarizing workers’ rights under the act. Willfully failing to post it can bring a fine of up to $100 per violation. Employers must also give workers written information about their accrued and used sick time and keep records of hours worked and sick time taken.
An existing paid-time-off or vacation policy can satisfy the act without a separate sick-time bank, but only if the policy provides at least the same number of hours, allows use for the same purposes, and accrues at a rate equal to or greater than the act requires. When those conditions are met, the employee is not entitled to additional sick time on top of the combined PTO.2State of Michigan. Earned Sick Time Act – Frequently Asked Questions
Retaliation Is Prohibited
Employers cannot fire, demote, discipline, or take any other adverse action against an employee for using earned sick time, filing a complaint, cooperating with a state investigation, or telling others about their rights under the act. An attendance or absence-control policy cannot count protected sick time as an absence that triggers discipline.6Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-966 – Retaliation Prohibited
The protection covers a good-faith report of a violation even if it turns out no violation occurred. An employer can still take action against a worker who uses sick time for a purpose the act does not cover or who violates the notice rules.6Michigan Legislature. MCL 408-966 – Retaliation Prohibited
Filing a Complaint and Available Penalties
The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity enforces the act. An employee who believes an employer has violated the law can file a complaint with the department within three years of the violation. The department investigates, tries to resolve the matter through mediation, and, if it finds a violation, issues a notice with required corrective action.7Michigan Legislature. House Bill 4002 of 2025 – Enrolled Bill
Remedies can include payment of improperly withheld sick time, damages the employee suffered, back pay, and reinstatement for workers who lost their jobs. If the department cannot get voluntary compliance, it must bring a civil action on the employee’s behalf and can extend that action to similarly situated workers at the same worksite.7Michigan Legislature. House Bill 4002 of 2025 – Enrolled Bill
Under the original version of the act, employees could also bring their own civil lawsuits for back pay, reinstatement, and an equal amount in liquidated damages plus attorney fees, and an employer who failed to provide sick time or retaliated faced a civil fine of up to $1,000 per violation.8Justia Law. Michigan Compiled Laws 408-967 – Violation of Act The 2025 amendments routed enforcement primarily through the department, so a worker dealing with a current violation should start with a department complaint rather than assume a direct path to court.