(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/31/2024) A proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour isn't going before the Legislature or before voters later this year.
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Friday that organizers of Raise the Wage Michigan screwed up when they changed their petition language without receiving the blessing of the Bureau of Elections or the Board of State Canvassers.
Justice Brian Zahra concurred in the decision, writing that it is not the court’s role to “second guess and question the administration of election disputes properly left to the bipartisan” BSC. The high court believes orders of this nature are an “extraordinary remedy” given when a “clear legal duty” has been violated.
“Whether the petition was wise, or worthy of passage is entirely a question of policy, properly left in the hands of the Legislature and democratic process,” Zahra wrote in a footnote. “The legal question before the Court concerns only whether plaintiff has met the standard to obtain mandamus relief.”
The petition, spearheaded by the national group One Fair Wage, got enough valid signatures. However, the BSC declined to advance it because the language that circulated differed from what was originally approved.
“It was abundantly reasonable for the Board to conclude that plaintiff failed to obtain pre-approval of an accurate statement of the petition submitted for final approval, which, rather than increasing the minimum wage for all employees, may have served to eliminate it for thousands,” Zahra wrote.
Raise the Wage filed suit in the Supreme Court, seeking an order to certify the petition.
Michigan Opportunity challenged the petition, arguing what was circulated and canvassed contained different language than what the BSC initially approved.
“Michigan Opportunity applauds the Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling because it correctly said that the Board of Canvassers holds the power (to) decide if One Fair Wage’s fatally flawed ballot initiative would be placed before voters this fall,” said spokesperson John Sellek of Harbor Strategic Public Affairs.
Sellek said Friday completes the 2024 battle, but the 2018 battle “remains hanging” over tipped workers and hospitality operators.
Sellek noted that, based on One Fair Wage’s request for the Legislature to adopt and amend the now-failed 2024 initiative, the organization should withdraw the 2018 lawsuit attempting to kill the 2018 adopt and amend procedure.
In December, attorney Mark Brewer, who represents the plaintiffs in Mothering Justice v. Attorney General, told the Supreme Court the Legislature’s adoption and then amendment of laws related to wages usurped the people’s right to create laws.
An opinion from the Supreme Court is expected before July 31.
Justin Winslow, president of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, said if the court rules that the 2018 adopt and amend action was unconstitutional, tipped wages will disappear and an industry still struggling since the COVID pandemic could worsen.
“It’s bad for service,” he said, noting that upwards of 60,000 employees could lose their jobs and one in five full-service restaurants could close.
“That seems dramatic,” Winslow acknowledged, and you might say I’m being a little over-dramatic. It’s actually getting worse, not better, because it’s a 250 percent increase in the cost of labor for these restaurants overnight while at the same time actually lowering the ceiling of revenue that the servers are making.”
Winslow said tipped workers currently earn about $30 per hour and “are loving the flexibility that they have.”
Michigan’s current minimum wage is $10.10 per hour, but would have increased to $13 in 2025, $14 in 2026 and $15 in 2027 under Raise the Wage’s petition. Tipped workers’ $3.85 per hour minimum wage would also increase until it matches the overall minimum wage.
