Latest news with #MichiganSupremeCourt
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Campaign launches to hold referendum on Michigan's new minimum wage law
The long fight over Michigan's minimum wage just entered a new battle. Advocates for eliminating the lower minimum wage for restaurant servers and other workers who receive customer tips recently announced their campaign to place a referendum on the November 2026 ballot asking voters to repeal the state's new minimum wage law. The law that took effect in February emerged as a legislative compromise that preempted a Michigan Supreme Court order that would have eventually eliminated the lower minimum wage for tipped workers. Compared to the court's order, the new law expedites the timeline for boosting the regular minimum wage earned by workers who don't receive tips. It also gradually increases the tipped minimum wage, but it doesn't eliminate it altogether. The referendum campaign to toss the law seeks to put the minimum wage changes in the Michigan Supreme Court order in place. If organizers collect enough voter signatures, it will set the stage for a temporary suspension of the new minimum wage law before a statewide vote on whether to keep it. That would mean, before the election, tipped workers would see a temporary wage bump while workers earning the regular minimum wage would earn $0.44 less an hour compared with the current law. Saru Jayaraman, president of the organization One Fair Wage supporting the referendum, blasted the Michigan restaurant lobby's description of the referendum campaign as a pay cut and said the group she leads has long pushed for higher minimum wages for all workers. State Sen. Kevin Hertel, D-St. Clair Shores, who introduced the minimum wage legislation Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law earlier this year, said slowing down the timeline for increasing the minimum wage would be bad for workers. He also said the policy to preserve a tipped minimum wage came after workers told him that's what they wanted. "I'll let people make up their own mind," he said on a potential referendum vote. House Minority Leader state Rep. Ranjeev Puri, D-Canton, was the only top legislative leader to vote against Hertel's bill. In a statement, he didn't say whether he would support a referendum to repeal the new minimum wage law, but he said the process is "a critical way for the people of our state to make their voices heard, particularly on issues they feel their government is unresponsive on." In 2018, a campaign to put a proposal on the ballot to raise the minimum wage and eliminate the tipped minimum wage never had a chance to put the issue to a statewide vote. Instead, Republican lawmakers blocked a vote by adopting the proposal before the election. After the election, they watered down the minimum wage changes to keep the lower tipped minimum wage intact. The legal fight that followed ended with a Michigan Supreme Court decision in July 2024 calling GOP lawmakers' "adopt and amend" maneuver illegal and ordering the original minimum wage proposal to take effect starting Feb. 21. The court set a timeline to increase the minimum wage and gradually phase out the lower tipped minimum wage. That prompted lawmakers to scramble to stop the court order eliminating the lower minimum wage from taking effect. Most states have one minimum wage for workers who don't earn tips, and a lower minimum wage for those who do. If customers' tips don't close that gap, the employer pays the difference. The Michigan Supreme Court order phasing out the tipped minimum wage would have made Michigan the first state to eliminate the lower wage for tipped workers in decades. But Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed Hertel's bill into law the same day the court order was scheduled to take effect. She has celebrated the legislation as evidence lawmakers can work together across the aisle. The restaurant lobby celebrated the new law, but it angered labor advocates, including One Fair Wage, which had floated gathering signatures to pursue a voter referendum during the legislative debate on the minimum wage. A June 11 notice from the Michigan's Bureau of Elections sets out the deadlines for providing public comment on the summary for the referendum petition and the election panel's approval, which typically kicks off the process for gathering signatures to land a spot on the ballot. The referendum campaign immediately garnered pushback from the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, whose President and CEO Justin Winslow said it "would ironically deliver the very pay cuts they claim to oppose" in a statement. Earlier this year, Michigan's new minimum wage law increased the minimum wage from $10.56 to $12.48 an hour, which matches the scheduled increase included in the court's minimum wage order. But starting next year, the new law kicks in a higher increase to the minimum wage than the court's order, with a minimum wage of $13.73 instead of $13.29. In 2027, the law sets the minimum wage at $15 instead of the $14.16 in the court order. Under the law, subsequent increases to the minimum wage are tied to inflation whereas the schedule in the court order set the minimum wage at $14.97 in 2028, before tying future increases to inflation. But the court's order set a higher tipped minimum wage compared to the new law, which caps the tipped minimum wage at 50% of the regular minimum wage starting in 2031. The court order, meanwhile, eliminates the lower tipped minimum wage starting in 2030. Jayaraman said the referendum campaign hopes to submit signatures this year, in time for the state's elections panel to determine enough signatures were collected to suspend the new law and put in place the court-ordered changes before the minimum wage is set to increase to $13.73 next year. The Free Press asked Jayaraman about the possibility of pursuing an initiative that would preserve the expedited timeline for increasing the minimum wage in the current law and eliminating the lower tipped minimum wage instead of a referendum. She suggested the restaurant lobby calling the referendum a pay cut has more resources than the organization she leads and could pitch in to support such an initiative. "And so we are continuing to fight with what we have for the lowest wage workers in Michigan and for all workers in Michigan," she said. That means at least putting the court-ordered changes in place, she said. Jayaraman said One Fair Wage is part of a coalition that's coming together for the referendum, but she said the group's other members would be announced later. Chris White, director of ROC Michigan, a restaurant workers' advocacy group that was a plaintiff in the Michigan Supreme Court case, said in a June 12 phone call that his organization has not yet been approached by the campaign. Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber spoke at a One Fair Wage news conference at the beginning of the year to express opposition to legislation to diminish the court's minimum wage ruling. Chad Cyrowski, Michigan AFL-CIO communications director, said in a statement June 12: "Every single Michigander deserves a good-paying job with strong workplace protections — and the Michigan AFL-CIO will continue advocating for them. We have not had a chance to review this proposal with our affiliates and have not taken a position on it." Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@ or 313-296-5743. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: New campaign wants Michigan voters to toss minimum wage law
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Voter referendum of minimum wage law submitted to Michigan canvassers
A supporter signs a One Fair Wage petition in 2022. | Ken Coleman Updated at 12:25 p.m. A group seeking to upend a new minimum wage law passed in February submitted a petition for referendum to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers on Wednesday – a move that restaurant groups have called misguided. Meanwhile, supporters of the proposed referendum submitted by Voters to Stop Pay Cuts said the Michigan Supreme Court upheld 2018 voter-initiated laws to change the state's minimum wage law and that the Michigan Legislature should have let those laws go into effect without meddling with them. One Fair Wage, which helped to spearhead the movement to change the minimum wage law only to have their attempts circumvented by the Michigan Legislature – twice – in a statement said workers are now prepared to fight the law head on. 'The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that these wage increases should be implemented, yet lawmakers rolled them back before they even took effect,' said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, in a statement. 'We're mobilizing to ensure voters – not politicians – have the ultimate say in whether these protections are upheld.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX In proposed voter referendum language submitted to the Board of State Canvassers on Tuesday, Voters to Stop Pay Cuts said it is seeking to repeal Public Act 1 of 2025, which was born from Senate Bill 8, introduced by state Sen. Kevin Hertel Jr. The Michigan Legislature passed the bill in February and the bill was signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer shortly thereafter. The act was a compromise with tipped-wage workers and restaurants who foretold doom and gloom if Michigan phased out tipped wages and instituted a more than $12 an hour minimum wage. That was likely without action from the Legislature after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that two voter-initiated laws passed in 2018 should have gone into law as written. The Legislature gutted the 2018 changes to minimum wage, tipped wages and paid sick time in the same session they were passed, which prevented the issues from going before the voters. It was a controversial move known as 'adopt and amend' because legislators took up the legislation, circumventing voter input, and then amending them in the same session. Organizers who supported the initiatives sued and argued the scheme was unconstitutional. The Michigan Supreme Court's liberal majority agreed and struck down the amended laws in a landmark 4-3 decision. The state's high court also determined that the Legislature had no authority to adopt voter-initiated laws and amend them in the same session. With that, the laws were set to go into effect in 2025, but a movement supported by tipped wage workers, restaurant and hospitality business owners rallied support to have the Legislature step in and amend the laws – which was now allowed because the appropriate time had passed for the Legislature to amend the laws. Whitmer signed the bill in February. The resulting Public Act 1 of 2025 set minimum wage $12.48 in 2025, $13.73 in 2026, and $15 an hour starting in 2026. The act also kept tipped wages intact and raised their percentage of hourly wage on a graduated scale up until 2030, much like it did with non-tipped workers' minimum wage. Voters to Stop Pay Cuts would like that law exorcised from statute, with referendum language arguing that Public Act 1 reduced the minimum wage for tipped workers and changed the way future inflation adjustments for minimum wage increases occurred in the future. A notice from the board notes a suggested petition summary with explanatory materials is due on June 18. Canvassers plan to meet to discuss the summary on June 27. The deadline for the board to either approve or reject the summary is July 10. The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association squarely opposed the effort. 'PA 1 of 2025 represents that rare outcome voters hope for from their elected officials but rarely experience – a true bipartisan solution in the midst of a polarized environment,' said MRLA President and CEO Justin Winslow in a statement. 'This particular diamond in the rough was crafted after extensive input from tens of thousands of Michigan servers, business owners, and community diners ultimately passed by both the Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate, and signed by Governor Whitmer.' Winslow called the effort misguided and said Voters to Stop Pay Cuts was just One Fair Wage under a new name. He said suspending Public Act 1 would do nothing but slow the pace toward a $15 minimum wage. 'After six years of legal uncertainty, our industry finally has clarity and a responsible path forward. Michigan's restaurant workers and operators deserve certainty, not the chaos that would result from suspending thoughtful, bipartisan legislation,' Winslow said. 'We urge voters to decline to sign this irresponsible attempt to undermine worker-focused legislation that reflects the voices of actual Michiganders, not out-of-state interests.' This story was updated to note that the referendum petition language was submitted on Wednesday.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Michigan Supreme Court won't hear out Oxford High School mass shooting civil cases
Michigan Supreme Court / Hall of Justice | Photo by Jon King The Michigan Supreme Court denied a request on Wednesday filed on behalf of the parents of the victims of the 2021 Oxford High School mass shooting to hear out legal arguments that the school and its employees failed to protect their kids. The denial marks a monumental blow to civil case efforts against Oxford Community Schools by the families of students who were killed, injured or now live with the impact of the killings. In their order, the justices said that the court was not persuaded that the issues being raised by the families and their attorneys should be reviewed by the state Supreme Court. Attorneys representing the families argued in lower courts that Michigan's Governmental Tort Liability Act has been unconstitutionally protecting Oxford Public Schools and its employees from civil liability for their 'grossly negligent' actions prior to the November 2021 shooting. In September, the Michigan Court of Appeals sided with Oxford Schools in maintaining its immunity and the attorneys representing the students' families sought to have the state's highest court hear their arguments. Without their day in court, Buck Myre, father of Tate Myre who was killed in the shooting at age 16, said during a news conference Wednesday the state of Michigan is telling families that it's okay if tragedies like what happened at Oxford High School happen again and again. 'It's our government saying nothing's going to change. We don't have to change, and we're willing to sacrifice kids as a gun statistic to keep doing what we're doing,' Myre said. 'I would never want anybody to walk in these shoes that we're walking in. That's why we want there to be change.' The government should not be immune from accountability, Myre said, and every effort should be made to analyze what the school did wrong and how the lives of his son, Hana St. Juliana, 14; Justin Shilling, 17, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, could have been saved. Could a Michigan school shooting have been prevented? Soon after the tragedy at Oxford High School, the public became aware that on the day of the shooting, where the shooter, then a 15-year-old student at the school, drew pictures of the gun he had brought to school on an assignment, along with a bloodied figure and the words 'Blood everywhere,', 'The world is dead.' and 'Help me.' The shooter had several interactions in recent months with school employees about concerning behaviors like an apparent drop in mood and searching online for firearm ammunition during class. After a teacher saw what the shooter drew on his assignment, his parents were called to the school for a meeting with school staff who didn't make the parents take their son home for the day, nor did anyone at the school check his school bag for the gun. The shooter was sentenced to Michigan's highest criminal penalty, life in prison without the possibility of parole, in December of 2023. His parents were sentenced to 10-15 years in prison on four counts of involuntary manslaughter for their role in the killings in April 2024. Judges throw out Oxford school shooting families' case against school officials The reality is there have been more school shootings since Oxford and there are things the world could've learned from this tragedy if the courts would allow light to shine on that day back in 2021, Meghan Gregory, mother of Keegan Gregory who survived the Oxford High School shooting said during the Wednesday news conference. Those kids' lives matter, Gregory said, and so while Oxford Schools can hide behind immunity, the families whose lives are forever changed by the shooting will work to find a way for accountability to happen and the truth to be revealed. 'I think we're all still kind of just trying to process that they won't even listen to our case,' Gregory said. 'This was a mass casualty, this was a huge deal and the fact they don't seem to care is just, it's really disheartening.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Michigan Supreme Court won't hear out Oxford High School mass shooting civil cases
Michigan Supreme Court / Hall of Justice | Photo by Jon King The Michigan Supreme Court denied a request on Wednesday filed on behalf of the parents of the victims of the 2021 Oxford High School mass shooting to hear out legal arguments that the school and its employees failed to protect their kids. The denial marks a monumental blow to civil case efforts against Oxford Community Schools by the families of students who were killed, injured or now live with the impact of the killings. In their order, the justices said that the court was not persuaded that the issues being raised by the families and their attorneys should be reviewed by the state Supreme Court. Attorneys representing the families argued in lower courts that Michigan's Governmental Tort Liability Act has been unconstitutionally protecting Oxford Public Schools and its employees from civil liability for their 'grossly negligent' actions prior to the November 2021 shooting. In September, the Michigan Court of Appeals sided with Oxford Schools in maintaining its immunity and the attorneys representing the students' families sought to have the state's highest court hear their arguments. Without their day in court, Buck Myre, father of Tate Myre who was killed in the shooting at age 16, said during a news conference Wednesday the state of Michigan is telling families that it's okay if tragedies like what happened at Oxford High School happen again and again. 'It's our government saying nothing's going to change. We don't have to change, and we're willing to sacrifice kids as a gun statistic to keep doing what we're doing,' Myre said. 'I would never want anybody to walk in these shoes that we're walking in. That's why we want there to be change.' The government should not be immune from accountability, Myre said, and every effort should be made to analyze what the school did wrong and how the lives of his son, Hana St. Juliana, 14; Justin Shilling, 17, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, could have been saved. Could a Michigan school shooting have been prevented? Soon after the tragedy at Oxford High School, the public became aware that on the day of the shooting, where the shooter, then a 15-year-old student at the school, drew pictures of the gun he had brought to school on an assignment, along with a bloodied figure and the words 'Blood everywhere,', 'The world is dead.' and 'Help me.' The shooter had several interactions in recent months with school employees about concerning behaviors like an apparent drop in mood and searching online for firearm ammunition during class. After a teacher saw what the shooter drew on his assignment, his parents were called to the school for a meeting with school staff who didn't make the parents take their son home for the day, nor did anyone at the school check his school bag for the gun. The shooter was sentenced to Michigan's highest criminal penalty, life in prison without the possibility of parole, in December of 2023. His parents were sentenced to 10-15 years in prison on four counts of involuntary manslaughter for their role in the killings in April 2024. Judges throw out Oxford school shooting families' case against school officials The reality is there have been more school shootings since Oxford and there are things the world could've learned from this tragedy if the courts would allow light to shine on that day back in 2021, Meghan Gregory, mother of Keegan Gregory who survived the Oxford High School shooting said during the Wednesday news conference. Those kids' lives matter, Gregory said, and so while Oxford Schools can hide behind immunity, the families whose lives are forever changed by the shooting will work to find a way for accountability to happen and the truth to be revealed. 'I think we're all still kind of just trying to process that they won't even listen to our case,' Gregory said. 'This was a mass casualty, this was a huge deal and the fact they don't seem to care is just, it's really disheartening.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Associated Press
28-05-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Michigan court ends effort to sue Oxford school staff over 2021 mass shooting
DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed appeals by families of students killed or wounded at Oxford High School in 2021, ending efforts to hold employees partly responsible for the mass shooting. Under Michigan law, immunity is a high hurdle to overcome in lawsuits against a government body, including public school staff. Lawyers typically have to show that gross negligence occurred. The court, in a two-sentence order, said it would not step into the litigation. The decision means a 3-0 Court of Appeals decision in favor of school employees will stand. A lawyer for the families said he would speak at an afternoon news conference. The appeals court in September said there was no evidence that Oxford staff were the 'proximate cause' of the tragedy, noting it was 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley who 'made the definite and premeditated decision' to take a gun to school, kill four students and wound seven other people. Before the shooting, he sketched images of a gun, a bullet and a wounded man on a math paper, accompanied by despondent phrases. His parents were quickly called to a meeting at school but declined to take him home. No one — parents or staff — checked the boy's backpack for a gun, though an administrator joked that it was heavy. Crumbley, now 19, is serving a life prison sentence. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are each serving 10-year sentences for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said they had ignored his mental health needs, bought him a gun as a gift and then failed to safely secure it. ___ Follow Ed White at
