Michigan's wage law was rewritten twice in two years: the Michigan Supreme Court struck down what the legislature had done to a 2018 ballot initiative, the initiative took effect in February 2025, and the legislature amended it the same day. If you were not paid the overtime you earned, you may be owed back wages plus an equal amount again as liquidated damages. Siegel Law Group represents employees — never employers.1
The Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act says an employee "shall receive compensation at not less than 1-1/2 times the regular rate at which the employee is employed for employment in a workweek in excess of 40 hours." An "employer" is anyone who "employs 2 or more employees at any 1 time within a calendar year."2
Then comes the catch most Michigan overtime pages miss. The Act "does not apply to an employer that is subject to the minimum wage provisions of the fair labor standards act of 1938 … unless" federal law would produce a lower minimum wage — and Michigan's $13.73 beats the federal $7.25, so federally covered employers stay in. But where an employer is covered only for that reason, the Act "does not apply to the employer's employee who is exempt from the minimum wage requirements of the fair labor standards act."3
In Mothering Justice v. Attorney General (July 31, 2024) the Michigan Supreme Court held that 2018 PA 368 "was unconstitutional and, therefore void," reviving the initiative effective February 21, 2025.4 That day the legislature passed 2025 PA 1, setting the schedule now in force: $12.48 from February 21, 2025; $13.73 from January 1, 2026; $15.00 from January 1, 2027; then annual CPI adjustments from October 2027, suspended for any year following state unemployment of 8.5% or more.5
The tip credit did not disappear; it narrows. A tipped employee's cash minimum is a percentage of the full rate — 38% in 2025, 40% in 2026, published by the state as $5.49 an hour — rising two points each January to 50% on January 1, 2031. Tips stay the employee's property and service charges do not count toward wages due. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds get 85%, $11.67.6
The requirement does not reach "an employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity" — but Michigan limits the retail and service escape hatch to employees who devote "less than 40% of the employee's hours in the workweek" to work unrelated to those duties.7 Spend more than 40% of your week doing what the hourly staff does and the label starts to come apart.
Michigan's rules require salary "at not less than the federal standard salary level per week for overtime exempt employees."8 That level is $684 per week, $35,568 a year: the 2024 increase was vacated in litigation and the Department of Labor restored the prior figure by regulation in May 2026.9 Michigan sets no higher number, and clearing $684 is where the employer's argument begins — duties decide it.
A salaried case manager at $62,400 — $1,200 a week for a 40-hour job — who works 50 hours has a regular rate of $30. Those ten overtime hours run about $450 a week, $23,400 a year, before liquidated damages double it. How a misclassified worker's regular rate is computed is itself litigated, so treat that as an illustration.
Two moves account for most of it: the exempt label without the duties, and the 1099. Across automotive manufacturing, managed care, and logistics the violations repeat — unpaid pre-shift setup and post-shift cleanup, donning and doffing, working through lunch, after-hours calls, bonuses left out of the regular rate, edited time records. Michigan also permits comp time only under a bargaining agreement or written plan, only where the employer gives at least 10 paid leave days a year, and never as a condition of employment.10 We concentrate in these cases for case managers, care coordinators, and utilization review staff.
Mandatory overtime is generally lawful, and refusing it can get you disciplined. Not paying for it cannot be fixed by agreement: "a contract or agreement between the employer and the employee or any acceptance of a lesser wage by the employee is not a bar to the action."11
Be clear-eyed about retaliation. The state act's provision is narrow and criminal rather than compensatory, covering discharge for serving or testifying before the state wage deviation board,12 so retaliation for asserting overtime rights is normally pursued under federal law.13 Michigan adds one unusual rule: an employer that consistently discharges employees within 10 weeks and replaces them without a work stoppage "is presumed to have discharged them to evade payment of the wage rates established in this act."14
An affected employee may act "at any time within 3 years" of the violation; federal law allows two years, three if willful.15 Each week you wait, a week of back pay drops off the far end for good — see statute of limitations.
Federal law is also opt-in: "no employee shall be a party plaintiff to any such action unless he gives his consent in writing."16 Silence keeps you out of a coworker's federal case. The Michigan act has no written-consent requirement, which is why state claims are usually pleaded alongside a federal collective action rather than instead of one. See collective actions.
You can file a claim with the director of the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Wage and Hour Division, who must investigate it; file with the U.S. Department of Labor; or sue. No agency filing is required first.17 The statute allows "the difference between the amount paid and the amount that, but for the violation, would have been paid the employee under this act and an equal additional amount as liquidated damages together with costs and reasonable attorney fees."11 Civil fines up to $1,000, or $2,500 in tipped-wage cases, run to the state, not to you. Where a whole job title was misclassified, litigation is what moves money — and we take those cases on contingency.
Jack Siegel has filed more than 100 federal overtime lawsuits in 27 federal courts, earned 50 or more class and collective certifications, and recovered more than $100 million for workers, as lead counsel on the firm's cases. We concentrate in misclassified case management, care coordination, and utilization review staff at large healthcare and managed-care companies — employers running the same pay practice in Michigan they run everywhere else. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.1 See our cases.
$13.73 an hour, rising to $15.00 on January 1, 2027 and indexed to inflation after that. Tipped employees must get at least 40% of the full minimum — $5.49 — plus enough tips to reach it.
No. The 2025 amendment kept the tip credit and shrinks it: 40% in 2026, up two points each January to 50% on January 1, 2031. If tips plus your cash wage fall short, your employer owes the difference.
Three years under the state act; two under federal law, three if willful.
No. A salary and a title are what the employer chose to call the job. The exemption depends on what you do all day, and the employer has to prove it.
Every consultation is free and confidential. We take overtime cases on contingency: we advance the costs of the case, those costs are repaid out of any recovery, and if we do not recover you owe us nothing — no fee and no costs. Request a free case review or call (214) 790-4454. Siegel Law Group PLLC, 11341 W US Hwy 290, Bldg 2, Austin, TX 78737.
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