State Rep. Ken Borton on Thursday cast a key vote to save small businesses and tipped workers from devastating mandates set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. In a bipartisan vote, the House passed a common-sense plan – House Bill 4002 – to protect small businesses from unrealistic sick time rules while ensuring workers have access to leave time when they need it.

“As the saying goes – ‘when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.’ Well, the Supreme Court handed us the nastiest lemons you can imagine, and we still found a way to make some quality lemonade,” said Borton, R-Gaylord. “Is our deal perfect? Not even close. But when we walked out last year, we said we would fight like hell until we had a deal that protected our tipped workers and small businesses. It took everything we had, but we fulfilled that promise by securing a deal that will truly benefit the whole of Michigan.”

HB 4002 guarantees all workers have access to sick time while clarifying the strict, complex rules that were originally set to take effect. The plan allows employers of all sizes to choose the sick time plan that works best for their businesses and create unique policies regarding “no call, no show” incidents. The legislation also safeguards businesses from baseless lawsuits and other attacks from left-wing activists.

A plan to protect tipped workers, Senate Bill 8, passed the House Wednesday, maintains the tip credit at 38% through 2025 while implementing annual wage increases, eventually capping at 50% of the minimum wage in 2031. The plan also heightens the penalties for employers who fail to fairly compensate their staff.

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