(MPRN) The Michigan Supreme Court will decide whether the Legislature had the authority to change minimum wage and paid sick leave laws that were enacted under Michigan’s petition initiative process.
In 2018, the Republican-controlled Legislature adopted two laws initiated by petition campaigns – one to increase the state minimum wage and the other to allow workers to accrue paid sick leave. That was instead of letting the questions go to the ballot.
Then, Republicans waited for the post-election lame duck session to weaken the laws.
Danielle Atkinson worked on those campaigns and says what Republicans did was unfair and unconstitutional.
“We’re looking for justice to be served, that democracy was upheld and that the law go into effect," she said.
Justin Winslow is with the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association. He says his members are closely following the case.
“Their business model is not going to function and they’re going to have to quickly lay off a lot of their restaurant servers to try to find a way to keep their business open if the Supreme Court rules that what the Legislature did was unconstitutional," he said.
"So that’s just more anxiety for the restaurant industry that it could, frankly, not use right now."
Lower courts split on whether the Legislature’s actions violated the state constitution.