Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Opinions are mixed on a landmark ruling handed down by the Michigan Supreme Court Wednesday that would raise the state minimum wage and phase out the tipped wage for restaurant and bar workers.

In a 4-3 decision, the court said Republican lawmakers violated the state constitution with its “adopt-and-amend” tactics on a 2018 ballot initiative.

The laws were the result of a 2018 petition drive that collected more than 280,000 signatures. The Legislature had options, including putting the proposed laws on the ballot for voters to decide or simply adopting them. GOP lawmakers chose to approve them — but then watered them down after that year's election, before Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer took over in 2019.

Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed the rollback legislation before he left office - triggering years of legal challenges that finally reached a climax at the state’s highest court.

The ballot initiative was led by One Fair Wage. President Saru Jayaraman commented “This is a great day for the more than 494,000 workers in Michigan who are getting a raise. We have finally prevailed over the corporate interests who tried everything they could to prevent all workers, including restaurant workers, from being paid a full, fair wage with tips on top. Back in 2018, we gathered more than 400,000 signatures to support raising wages for all workers in Michigan, including tipped workers, and effectively end the subminimum wage – a direct legacy of slavery. Republicans who controlled the legislature at that time recognized the popularity of raising the minimum wage and its power to mobilize hundreds of thousands of new, unlikely voters. In an attempt to undermine the democratic process, they adopted the measure to remove it from the ballot, and then planned to reverse the wage increase after the election. Thankfully, the court saw through this undemocratic maneuvering and blocked their efforts to suppress the will of the people”.


Meanwhile, various groups and some lawmakers are calling on the Governor and Legislature to take action to protect the restaurant and service industry.

Republican State Representative Ann Bollin of Brighton Township said “This ruling is devastating for small businesses, particularly our local restaurants. Eliminating the tip credit system will put restaurants out of business and lead to job losses and smaller paychecks for servers and bartenders. Our economy cannot handle this blow. We must stand up for hardworking people and take immediate legislative action to restore the tip credit. We need to protect jobs, preserve livelihoods, and ensure our local businesses can thrive. Let’s fix this before it’s too late.”


Save MI Tips Spokesperson John Sellek said while it might sound nice on the surface, the ruling is a “disaster”.

Sellek told WHMI “People in Howell, Brighton, Fowlerville, and everywhere in your listening area do these jobs each day and they know what their relationships are like economically with their customers. If everyone now makes full minimum wage, the first thing that will happen is that customers will start to feel like they don’t need to tip them - and that ruins the whole concept of these jobs that allow them to make higher income levels”.

Sellek said the change will basically double labor costs in around six months and “blow hole in the budget of any locally owned restaurant or bar”. He said they’ll be forced to decide to possibly close up shop, raise menu prices, or add service charges to make up for the cost increase being implemented by the court.

Sellek noted that Michigan servers and bartenders did not ask for the tip credit to be eliminated or for the multiple ballot initiatives by an outside group that spent millions on a legal war and whose funding came from a mystery source. He said they want the Governor and Legislature to step in and adjust the law to fix the problem. Sellek added the silver lining is that they are now seeing a bi-partisan level of support they didn’t see before publicly.

Press releases from both groups are attached.