The Michigan Court of Appeals unanimously ruled Thursday the state’s minimum wage will remain at $10.10 instead of increasing to $13.03 as intended by the One Fair Wage petition, which was adopted by the state legislature in 2018.
Under Michigan’s Adopt and Amend policy, the legislature is allowed to adopt and pass citizen-led petitions before the proposed policies are placed on the ballot. Michigan’s Republican-majority legislature adopted the One Fair Wage proposal in 2018, amending it to raise the minimum wage to just $12.05 by 2030. The original proposal called for a statewide increase to $13.03 per hour and tipped worker wages to $11.73 per hour this year.
Court of Claims Judge Douglas Shapiro ruled the Adopt and Amend policy unconstitutional in July 2022, replacing the plan for a $12.05 minimum wage with a Jan. 1 increase from $9.87 to $10.10. The 2022 ruling also created an opportunity for a second increase to $13.03, which was prohibited by Thursday’s decision.
Court of Appeals Judge Michael Kelly delivered the opinion in Thursday’s ruling. Kelly said the court found that the 2022 decision violated the state’s constitutional right to petition the government.
“(The ruling) is a direct assault on one of the rights of our founding fathers and the drafters of our state constitution held dear: the right of citizens to petition their government,” Kelly wrote in his opinion.
Following Thursday’s ruling, Michigan’s minimum wage will remain at $10.10 per hour and the tipped wage will stay at $3.84, though an appeal to the state Supreme Court is expected.
Daily News Reporter Shao Hsuan Wu can be reached at wjeannie@umich.edu.