Michigan: Paid Sick Leave Requirements

Requirements one by one

Accrual and the two annual use caps

Every Michigan employer must let employees earn paid earned sick time at a rate
of at least one hour for every 30 hours worked. The annual use cap depends on
employer size: a small business — 10 or fewer workers — need not allow more than
40 hours of use a year, while every larger employer must allow up to 72 hours,
unless the employer chooses a higher limit.

all other employees must accrue a minimum of 1 hour of paid earned sick time
for every 30 hours worked ... but may not use more than 72 hours of paid earned
sick time in a year, unless the employer selects a higher limit.

An employer may instead frontload the full annual amount (40 or 72 hours, or a
proportional amount for a part-time worker given written notice of expected
hours) at the start of the year. An overtime-exempt employee is assumed to work
40 hours a week for accrual.

Carryover and the 120-day waiting period

Unused accrued time carries from year to year, capped at the same 72 or 40 hours.
An employer that frontloads the annual amount does not have to allow carryover or
pay out unused time. Accrual begins at hire (or the Act's effective date), and
time may be used as it accrues — but an employer may make an employee hired after
the 2025 amendment wait 120 calendar days before first using accrued time.

A broad set of uses and a broad family definition

Earned sick time covers far more than the employee's own illness. Section
408.964(1) lets an employee use it for a family member's illness and care,
domestic-violence or sexual-assault needs, meetings at a child's school about
the child's health or disability, and public-health-emergency closures or
communicable-disease exposure:

For closure of the employee's place of business by order of a public official
due to a public health emergency, for an employee's need to care for a child
whose school or place of care has been closed ... or when it has been
determined by the health authorities ... that the employee's or ... family
member's presence in the community would jeopardize the health of others.

"Family member" reaches a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner, grandparent,
grandchild, sibling, anyone related by blood, and anyone whose close association
is the equivalent of family.

Notice, increments, and documentation

For foreseeable leave the employer may require up to seven days' advance notice;
for unforeseeable leave, notice is due as soon as practicable or under a written
employer policy the employee actually received. Leave is taken in one-hour
increments (or a smaller increment the employer uses). Documentation may be
required only for absences of more than three consecutive days, must be produced
within 15 days, cannot delay the start of the leave, and the employer pays the
employee's out-of-pocket cost. The employer cannot demand that the documentation
reveal the nature of the illness or the violence.

Pay, separation, and records

Leave is paid at the greater of the employee's normal hourly or base wage or the
state minimum wage, excluding overtime, holiday, bonus, commission, piece-rate,
and tip pay. Unused time need not be paid out at separation, but if the same
employer rehires the worker within two months, the accrued balance is restored.
The employer must keep records of hours worked and earned sick time taken for at
least three years.

What trips people up

The 40-hour cap is only for small businesses. An employer with 10 or fewer
workers can cap annual use at 40 hours, but it loses "small business" status if
it had more than 10 on payroll for 20 or more workweeks in the current or prior
year — then the 72-hour cap applies.

New hires can face a 120-day wait, but only for use. Time still accrues from
the start of employment. The wait, which an employer must choose to impose,
delays only when a post-2025-amendment new hire may first use accrued time.

Documentation turns on three consecutive days, and the employer pays for it.
A note cannot be demanded for a shorter absence, cannot hold up the leave, and
any out-of-pocket cost of obtaining it falls on the employer.

Frontloading changes the carryover math. An employer that gives the full 40
or 72 hours up front does not have to carry unused time forward or cash it out,
unlike an employer that uses hour-by-hour accrual.

Common questions

Does every Michigan employer have to provide paid sick time?

Yes. The Act applies to any employer with at least one employee, though a small
business of 10 or fewer workers may cap annual use at 40 rather than 72 hours.

Can I use earned sick time to care for a family member?

Yes. It covers a family member's illness, care, and preventive care, and family
is defined broadly to include a spouse or domestic partner, child, parent,
grandparent, grandchild, sibling, and others.

Will I be paid for unused sick time when I leave?

Not necessarily. The Act does not require a payout at separation, but if the same
employer rehires you within two months, your unused balance is restored.

What can I recover if my employer denies earned sick time?

You can file a claim with the department within three years. Relief includes the
withheld sick time, damages, back pay, and reinstatement, plus civil fines of up
to eight times your normal hourly wage for a failure to provide leave and up to
$1,000 for retaliation.

Statutes and sources

• MCL 408.962, definitions of "small business," "family member," and "employee" —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-408-962 (accessed 2026-07-23)
• MCL 408.963, accrual rate, annual use caps, frontloading, carryover, waiting
  period, and pay rate —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-Act-338-of-2018.pdf (accessed 2026-07-23)
• MCL 408.964, permissible uses, notice, increments, and documentation —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-408-964 (accessed 2026-07-23)
• MCL 408.965, reinstatement on rehire and no separation payout —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-Act-338-of-2018.pdf (accessed 2026-07-23)
• MCL 408.967, enforcement, relief, and civil fines —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-408-967 (accessed 2026-07-23)
• MCL 408.968, written notice and poster —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-408-968 (accessed 2026-07-23)
• MCL 408.970, three-year recordkeeping —
  https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-408-970 (accessed 2026-07-23)