State Rep. Steve Frisbie 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.

“The process was messy, but today was a win for our state and our state’s small businesses,” said Frisbie, R-Pennfield. “Without our interventions, these court-ordered, legislative mandates would’ve completely wrecked Michigan. I can’t think of a single industry that wouldn’t have been affected. This isn’t the deal that we wanted, but it’s the best we could do to satisfy both sides.”

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.

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.