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October 17, 2025
Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA), which became effective in February 2025 for many employers, requires employers to provide workers with paid sick time.
Effective October 1, 2025, ESTA expanded to small employers – i.e., businesses with ten or fewer workers. See 2025 Mi. HB 4002. Workers of small employers are entitled to up to 40 hours of paid sick time per year (large employers must provide up to 72 hours).
Employers may provide the sick time benefits in one of two ways – either (1) an accrual method, whereby sick time accrues at the rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked; or (2) a frontload method, whereby employers can grant the full year’s sick time allotment at the beginning of the year.
Workers may use earned sick time for (1) physical or mental illness, treatment, or preventative care for the worker or a family member; (2) medical or educational meetings regarding a child’s health or disability; (3) issues related to domestic violence, assault, or sexual assault for the worker or a family member; and (4) closure of the worker’s workplace due to a public official’s order.
Employers must provide workers with notice of their rights under the ESTA, display the official state poster about the ESTA, and keep records for three years of hours worked and sick time accrued/used.
Michigan Employer Takeaways: Regularly review your headcount. If you have 11 workers for at least 20 workweeks in the current or previous calendar year, you will be considered a large employer through the end of the following year (and thus must offer 72 hours of sick time).
Update your payroll systems and Human Resources systems so that you may track accruals (based on the accrual method that you choose), caps, rollovers, and usage.
Provide notice to workers (in the form of individual written notices and the required state posters) of ESTA rights, and train managers on the law.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, Michigan, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
