HOUSE BILL NO. 6479

December 02, 2020, Introduced by Rep. LaGrand and referred to the Committee on Commerce and Tourism.

"Improved workforce opportunity wage act,"

by amending section 4a (MCL 408.934a), as amended by 2018 PA 368.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

Sec. 4a. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this act, an employee shall must receive compensation at not both of the following rates:

(a) Not less than 1-1/2 times the regular rate at which the employee is employed for employment in a workweek in excess of 40 hours.

(b) If the employee's employer has more than 50 employees, not less than 2 times the regular rate at which the employee is employed for employment on all of the following federal holidays:

(i) New Year's Day.

(ii) Memorial Day.

(iii) Independence Day.

(iv) Labor Day.

(v) Thanksgiving Day.

(vi) Christmas Day.

(2) This state or a political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of this state does not violate subsection (1) with respect to the employment of an employee in fire protection activities or an employee in law enforcement activities, including security personnel in correctional institutions, if any of the following apply:

(a) In a work period of 28 consecutive days, the employee receives, for tours of duty , which that in the aggregate exceed 216 hours, compensation for those hours in excess of 216 at a rate not less than 1-1/2 times the regular rate at which the employee is employed. The employee's regular rate shall must be not less than the statutory minimum hourly rate.

(b) For an employee to whom a work period of at least 7 but less than 28 days applies, in the employee's work period the employee receives, for tours of duty , which that in the aggregate exceed a number of hours which that bears the same ratio to the number of consecutive days in the employee's work period as 216 bears to 28 days, compensation for those excess hours at a rate not less than 1-1/2 times the regular rate at which the employee is employed. The employee's regular rate shall must be not less than the statutory minimum hourly rate.

(c) If an employee engaged in fire protection activities would receive overtime payments under this act solely as a result of that employee's trading of time with another employee pursuant to a voluntary trading time arrangement, overtime, if any, shall must be paid to employees who participate in the trading of time as if the time trade had not occurred. As used in this subdivision, "trading time arrangement" means a practice under which employees of a fire department voluntarily substitute for one another each other to allow an employee to attend to personal matters, if the practice is neither not for the convenience of the employer nor or because of the employer's operations.

(3) This state or a political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of this state engaged in the operation of a hospital or an establishment that is an institution primarily engaged in the care of the sick, the aged, or the mentally ill or developmentally disabled who reside on the premises does not violate subsection (1) if both of the following conditions are met:

(a) Pursuant to Under a written agreement or written employment policy arrived at between the employer and the employee before performance of the work, a work period of 14 consecutive days is accepted instead of the workweek of 7 consecutive days for purposes of overtime computation.

(b) For the employee's employment in excess of 8 hours in a workday and in excess of 80 hours in the 14-day period, the employee receives compensation at a rate of 1-1/2 times the regular rate, which shall must be not less than the statutory minimum hourly rate at which the employee is employed.

(4) Subsections (1), (2), and (3) do not apply to any of the following:

(a) An employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity, including an employee employed in the capacity of academic administrative personnel or teacher in an elementary or secondary school. However, an employee of a retail or service establishment is not excluded from the definition of employee employed in a bona fide executive or administrative capacity because of the number of hours in the employee's workweek that the employee devotes to activities not directly or closely related to the performance of executive or administrative activities, if less than 40% of the employee's hours in the workweek are devoted to those activities.

(b) An individual who holds a public elective office.

(c) A political appointee of a person an individual holding public elective office or a political appointee of a public body, if the political appointee described in this subdivision is not covered by a civil service system.

(d) An employee employed by an establishment that is an amusement or recreational establishment, if the establishment does not operate for more than 7 months in a calendar year.

(e) An employee employed in agriculture, including farming in all its branches, which among other things includes: cultivating includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(i) Cultivating and tilling soil. ; dairying; producing,

(ii) Dairying.

(iii) Producing, cultivating, growing, and harvesting agricultural or horticultural commodities. ; raising

(iv) Raising livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry. ; and a

(v) A practice , including forestry or lumbering operations, performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with farming operations, including preparation all of the following:

(A) Forestry or lumbering operations.

(B) Preparation for market. , delivery

(D) Processing or preserving perishable farm products.

(f) An employee who is not subject to the minimum hourly wage provisions of this act.

(5) The director of the department of licensing and regulatory affairs commissioner shall promulgate rules under the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, to define the terms used in subsection (4).

(6) For purposes of administration and enforcement, an amount owing to an employee that is withheld in violation of this section is unpaid minimum wages under this act.

(7) The legislature shall annually appropriate from the general fund to each political subdivision affected by subsection (2) an amount equal to the difference in direct labor costs before and after the effective date of this act March 29, 2019 arising from any change in existing law that results from the enactment of subsection (2) and incurred by the political subdivision.

(8) In lieu of monetary overtime compensation, an employee subject to this act may receive compensatory time off at a rate that is not less than 1-1/2 hours for each hour of employment for which overtime compensation is required under this act, subject to all of the following:

(a) The employer must allow employees a total of at least 10 days of leave per year without loss of pay and must provide the compensatory time to the employee under either of the following:

(i) Applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, memorandum of understanding, or any other written agreement between the employer and representative of the employee.

(ii) If employees are not represented by a collective bargaining agent or other representative designated by the employee, a plan adopted by the employer and provided in writing to its employees that provides employees with a voluntary option to receive compensatory time off for overtime work when there is an express, voluntary written request to the employer by an individual employee for compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay before the performance of any overtime assignment.

(b) The employee has not earned compensatory time in excess of the applicable limit prescribed by subdivision (d).

(c) The employee is not required as a condition of employment to accept or request compensatory time. An employer shall not directly or indirectly intimidate, threaten, or coerce or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce an employee for the purpose of interfering with the employee's rights under this section to request or not request compensatory time off in lieu of payment of overtime compensation for overtime hours, or requiring an employee to use compensatory time. In assigning overtime hours, an employer shall not discriminate among employees based upon an employee's choice to request or not request compensatory time off in lieu of overtime compensation. An employer who violates this subsection is subject to a civil fine of not more than $1,000.00.

(d) An employee may not accrue more than a total of 240 hours of compensatory time. An employer shall do both of the following:

(i) Maintain in an employee's pay record a statement of compensatory time earned by that employee in the pay period that the pay record identifies.

(ii) Provide an employee with a record of compensatory time earned by or paid to the employee in a statement of earnings for the period in which the compensatory time is earned or paid.

(e) Upon the request of an employee who has earned compensatory time, the employer shall, within 30 days following after the request, provide monetary compensation for that compensatory time at a rate not less than the regular rate earned by the employee at the time when the employee performed the overtime work.

(f) An employee who has earned compensatory time authorized under this subsection shall, must, upon the voluntary or involuntary termination of employment or upon expiration of if this subsection is no longer in effect, be paid unused compensatory time at a rate of compensation not less than the regular rate earned by the employee at the time when the employee performed the overtime work. A terminated employee's receipt of or eligibility to receive monetary compensation for earned compensatory time shall must not be used by either of the following:

(i) The employer to oppose an employee's application for unemployment compensation under the Michigan employment security act, 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, MCL 421.1 to 421.75.

(ii) The state to deny unemployment compensation or diminish an employee's entitlement to unemployment compensation benefits under the Michigan employment security act, 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, MCL 421.1 to 421.75.

(g) An employer shall allow an employee shall be permitted to use any compensatory time accrued under this subsection for any reason unless use of the compensatory time for the period requested will unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.

(h) Unless prohibited by a collective bargaining agreement, an employer may terminate a compensatory time plan upon not less than 60 days' notice to employees.

(i) As used in this subsection:

(i) "Compensatory time" and "compensatory time off" mean hours during which an employee is not working and for which the employee is compensated in accordance with under this subsection in lieu of monetary overtime compensation.

(ii) "Overtime assignment" means an assignment of hours for which overtime compensation is required under this act.

(iii) "Overtime compensation" means the compensation required under this section.