MICHIGAN - Workers’ Rights

Definition of agricultural worker under state law:

• For the purposes of the overtime law in Michigan’s Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, “[a]n “employee employed in agriculture” is defined at MICH. COMP. LAWS § 408.934a(4)(e).

• For the purposes of Michigan’s Employment Security Act, “agricultural labor” is defined at MICH. COMP. LAWS § 421.43.

Wages and Overtime

Minimum Wage

• Michigan has two state laws regarding minimum wage.
• The Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, Act 138 of 2014 (MICH. COMP. LAWS § 408.414), set the minimum wage rates from 2014 – 2018 and required beginning in January 2019 an adjustment to the minimum wage based on the consumer price index.
• The Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, Act 337 of 2018, superseded any inconsistent acts or parts of acts the Workforce Opportunity Wage Act. (MICH. COMP. LAWS § 408.935).
• Michigan’s hourly minimum wage is:
  • $10.10 effective Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023;
  • $10.33 effective Jan. 1, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2024;
  • $10.56 effective Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2025; and
  • $10.80 effective January 1, 2026 through December 3, 2026.
• There are different wage rates for tipped workers.
• The minimum wage rate is scheduled to change within the next four years. However, the minimum wage will not increase if the unemployment rate during the calendar year preceding the calendar year of the prescribed increase is 8.5% or greater.

• Agricultural workers are covered by the state minimum wage, but with various exceptions.
• The state minimum wage does not apply to an employer that is subject to the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), unless those federal minimum wage provisions would result in a lower minimum hourly wage than provided in the state law. (MCLS § 408.940) Recently, the state enforcement agency has begun interpreting this provision to exclude agricultural workers who work on certain small farms. (Mich. Att’y Gen. Op. 7301 (2017))

Overtime

• Michigan has a state law regarding overtime pay. (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 408.931 et seq.)
• Agricultural workers are excluded from the state overtime law. (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 408.934a(4)(e))

State Enforcement Agency

Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs – Wage & Hour Division

Website: https://www.michigan.gov/lara 

Occupational Safety and Health

Workers’ Compensation

• Agricultural workers are covered by the state workers’ compensation law, but with some exceptions. Employers must provide workers’ compensation but limits coverage to certain classifications of agricultural employers or workers – those with 3 or more regular employees paid hourly wages or salaries (not piece work) who are employed 35 or more hours per week by that same employer for 13 or more consecutive weeks during the preceding 52 weeks. (Mich Comp. Laws § 418.115(d) (2012))

State Enforcement Agency:
Workers’ Compensation Agency, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs 

Website: https://www.michigan.gov/wca/0,4682,7-191-26917—,00.html

Field Sanitation

• Michigan has a state law regarding field sanitation, which incorporates federal field sanitation standards. (Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.1014f)

State Enforcement Agency:
Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) 

Website: https://www.michigan.gov/leo/0,5863,7-336-78421_11407-102879–,00.html

Fact sheet: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dleg/deleg_wsh_AGRICULTURAL_FIELD_SANITATION_018_344588_7.pdf

Pesticide Safety

• Michigan has a state law regarding pesticide safety in agriculture. (Act 451, Part 83, Reg. of pesticide use 285.637.1) See also the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of 1994 MCL 324.8301 et seq.
• Suspected pesticide poisoning is a reportable illness for health care providers. Physicians, hospitals, and health providers have to report pesticide poisoning within 10 days. 

State Enforcement and Reporting Agencies:

Department of Health & Human Services

Website: https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/

Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (Pesticide and Plant Management Division)
Website: https://www.michigan.gov/mdard/0,4610,7-125-1572_2875-8324–,00.html

Right to Join Unions and Collective Bargaining in Agriculture

• There is no state statute that grants agricultural workers the right to join and organize labor unions free from retaliation (such as being fired, demoted or disciplined). Agricultural workers are excluded from the state’s labor relations statute, which includes the right to join a union (MICH. COMP. LAWS §§ 423.16, 423.2)
• Michigan is a ‘right to work’ state. (MICH. COMP. LAWS § 423.14).

State Legal Services Organizations

Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan
http://www.FarmworkerLaw.org

Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
https://michiganimmigrant.org/

Migrant Legal Aid
https://migrantlegalaid.com/