MI High Court Affirms Minimum Wage Increase: Here's What It Means

MICHIGAN — The Michigan Supreme Court settled the timeline for the state's minimum wage increase in a Wednesday order.

Michigan's minimum wage will rise to $12.48 an hour on Feb. 21, 2025, according to the order.

After that, Michigan's minimum wage will rise to $13.29 in 2026, $14.16 in 2027 and $14.97 in 2028, according to the order.

The order also clarified a timeline for a tipped worker's transition to be paid the minimum wage by 2029.

The tipped wage should be at least 48 percent of the minimum wage in February 2025, 60 percent in February 2026, 70 percent in February 2027, 80 percent in February 2028, 90 percent in February 2029 and then 100 percent of the minimum wage in February 2030, according to the order.

Michigan's current minimum wage is $10.33 an hour and the tipped minimum wage moved up to $3.93 an hour, from $3.84, in 2023.

Wednesday's court order comes after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in July that the 2018 Republican-led legislature violated the state's constitution by changing parts of a ballot proposal, which would have raised the state's minimum wage and boosted earned sick time for hourly workers.

That proposal, or the Wage Act and the Earned Sick Leave Act, would have gradually raised Michigan's minimum wage over the years, eventually reaching $12 an hour in 2022. It would have also raised tipped workers' wages until it reached 100 percent in 2024. But the adopted proposal killed those increases.

Since the high court reinstated the Wage Act, the Michigan Attorney General's Office asked the high court for clarification in how to calculate the inflationary adjustments during the six years of court battles. The request was submitted to avoid future court battles, according to the office.

That filing from the attorney general's office said the Michigan Department of Treasury and Labor and Economic Opportunity will look at the rising costs around consumer prices to make the necessary adjustments, which constitutes a 45 percent hike over four years, eventually reaching $14.97 in 2028.

Wednesday's order from the Michigan Supreme Court affirmed the legislature has the right to make the adjustments, and they have until Nov. 1 to publish the new rate.