SENATE BILL No. 1388

 

 

August 9, 2006, Introduced by Senators EMERSON, SWITALSKI, BRATER, BASHAM, CHERRY, SCHAUER, BARCIA, LELAND, OLSHOVE and THOMAS and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1964 PA 154, entitled

 

"Minimum wage law of 1964,"

 

by amending sections 4a and 14 (MCL 408.384a and 408.394), section

 

4a as amended by 1997 PA 2 and section 14 as amended by 1998 PA 37;

 

and to repeal acts and parts of acts.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 4a. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, 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.

 

     (2)  The  This state or a political subdivision, agency, or

 

instrumentality of  the  this state does not violate subsection (1)

 

with respect to the employment of an employee in fire protection

 

activities or an employee in law enforcement activities, including


 

security personnel in correctional institutions, if any of the

 

following  applies  apply:

 

     (a) In a work period of 28 consecutive days, the employee

 

receives for tours of duty, which in the aggregate exceed 216

 

hours, compensation for those hours in excess of 216 at a rate not

 

less than 1-1/2 times the regular rate at which the employee is

 

employed. The employee's regular rate shall be not less than the

 

statutory minimum hourly rate.

 

     (b) For an employee to whom a work period of at least 7 but

 

less than 28 days applies, in the employee's work period the

 

employee receives for tours of duty, which in the aggregate exceed

 

a number of hours  which  that bears the same ratio to the number

 

of consecutive days in the employee's work period as 216 bears to

 

28 days, compensation for those excess hours at a rate not less

 

than 1-1/2 times the regular rate at which the employee is

 

employed. The employee's regular rate shall be not less than the

 

statutory minimum hourly rate.

 

     (c) If an individual who is employed by this state, a political

 

subdivision of this state, or an interstate governmental agency in

 

fire protection or law enforcement activities, including activities of

 

security personnel in correctional institutions, and who, solely at

 

the individual's option, agrees to be employed on a special detail by

 

a separate or independent employer in fire protection, law

 

enforcement, or related activities, the hours the individual was

 

employed by the separate or independent employer shall be excluded by

 

the public agency employing the individual in the calculation of the

 

hours for which the employee is entitled to overtime compensation


 

under this section if the pubic agency does any of the following:

 

     (i) Requires that its employees engaged in fire protection, law

 

enforcement, or security activities be hired by a separate and

 

independent employer to perform the special detail.

 

     (ii) Facilitates the employment of the employees by a separate and

 

independent employer.

 

     (iii) Otherwise affects the condition of employment of those

 

employees by a separate and independent employer.

 

     (d) If an employee of this state, a political subdivision of this

 

state, or an interstate governmental agency undertakes, on an

 

occasional or sporadic basis and solely at the employee's option,

 

part-time employment for the public agency which is in a different

 

capacity from any capacity in which the employee is regularly employed

 

with the public agency, the hours the employee was employed in

 

performing the different employment shall be excluded by the public

 

agency in calculating the hours for which the employee is entitled to

 

overtime compensation under this section.

 

     (e)  (c)  If an employee engaged in fire protection activities

 

would receive overtime payments under this act solely as a result

 

of that employee's trading of time with another employee pursuant

 

to a voluntary trading time arrangement, overtime, if any, shall be

 

paid to employees who participate in the trading of time as if the

 

time trade had not occurred. As used in this subdivision, "trading

 

time arrangement" means a practice under which employees of a fire

 

department voluntarily substitute for one another to allow an

 

employee to attend to personal matters, which practice is neither

 

for the convenience of the employer nor because of the employer's


 

operations.

 

     (3)  The state or a political subdivision, agency, or

 

instrumentality of the state engaged in the operation of  An

 

employer operating a hospital or an establishment that is an

 

institution primarily engaged in the care of the sick, the aged, or

 

the mentally ill or defective who reside on the premises does not

 

violate subsection (1) if both of the following conditions are met:

 

     (a) Pursuant to a written agreement or written employment

 

policy arrived at between the employer and the employee before

 

performance of the work or pursuant to a collective bargaining

 

agreement, a work period of 14 consecutive days is accepted instead

 

of the workweek of 7 consecutive days for purposes of overtime

 

computation.

 

     (b) For the employee's employment in excess of 8 hours in a

 

workday and in excess of 80 hours in the 14-day period, the

 

employee receives compensation at a rate of 1-1/2 times the regular

 

rate, which rate shall be not less than the statutory minimum

 

hourly rate at which the employee is employed.

 

     (4) Subsections (1), (2), and (3) do not apply to any of the

 

following:

 

     (a) An employee employed in a bona fide executive,

 

administrative, or professional capacity, including an employee

 

employed in the capacity of academic administrative personnel or

 

teacher in an elementary or secondary school. However, an employee

 

of a retail or service establishment is not excluded from the

 

definition of employee employed in a bona fide executive or

 

administrative capacity because of the number of hours in the


 

employee's workweek which the employee devotes to activities not

 

directly or closely related to the performance of executive or

 

administrative activities, if less than 40% of the employee's hours

 

in the workweek are devoted to those activities.

 

     (b) An individual who holds a public elective office.

 

     (c) A political appointee of a person holding public elective

 

office or a political appointee of a public body, if the political

 

appointee described in this subdivision is not covered by a civil

 

service system.

 

     (d) An employee employed by an establishment  which  that is

 

an amusement or recreational establishment, organized camp, or

 

religious or nonprofit educational conference center if the

 

establishment does not operate for more than 7 months in a calendar

 

year.

 

     (e) An employee employed in agriculture, including farming in

 

all its branches, which among other things includes: the

 

cultivation and tillage of the soil; dairying; the production,

 

cultivation, growing, and harvesting of agricultural or

 

horticultural commodities; the raising of livestock, bees, fur-

 

bearing animals, or poultry; and a practice, including forestry or

 

lumbering operations, performed by a farmer or on a farm as an

 

incident to or in conjunction with farming operations, including

 

preparation for market, delivery to storage, or delivery to market

 

or to a carrier for transportation to market or the processing or

 

preserving of perishable farm products.

 

     (f) An employee who is not subject to the minimum hourly wage

 

provisions of this act.


 

     (g) An employee employed under a collective bargaining

 

agreement that provides either of the following:

 

     (i) That an employee shall not be employed more than 1,040

 

hours during any 26 consecutive weeks.

 

     (ii) That during a specified consecutive 52-week period an

 

employee shall not be employed more than 2,240 hours and shall be

 

guaranteed not less than either 1,840 hours or 46 weeks at the normal

 

number of hours worked per week, but not less than 30 hours per week,

 

which guarantee shall not exceed 2,080 hours. The employee shall

 

receive compensation for all hours guaranteed or worked at rates not

 

less than those applicable under the agreement covering the work

 

performed. For all hours in excess of the guaranty which are also in

 

excess of the maximum workweek applicable to the employee or exceed

 

2,080, the employee shall receive 1-1/2 times the regular rate at

 

which he or she is employed.

 

     (h) An employee at a retail or service establishment, if the

 

regular rate of pay of the employee exceeds 1-1/2 times the minimum

 

hourly rate applicable under section 4 and more than 1/2 of the

 

employee's compensation for a representative period of not less than 1

 

month represents commissions on goods or services.

 

     (i) An employee of an employer engaged in the business of

 

operating an electric railway, local trolley, or motorbus carrier as

 

to those hours of employment during which the employee is employed in

 

charter activities. The exclusion in this subdivision applies only if

 

the employee's employment in charter activity is pursuant to an

 

agreement with this employer arrived at before engaging in the charter

 

employment and the charter activity is not part of the employee's


 

regular employment.

 

     (j) An employee of a public agency performing court reporting

 

transcript preparation as to hours worked outside of the hours

 

regularly required for the employee's attendance. The exclusion in

 

this subdivision applies only if the employee is paid at a per-page

 

rate that is either the maximum rate established by state law, local

 

ordinance, or judicial officer or if the rate is freely negotiated

 

between the employee and the party requesting the transcript, other

 

than the presiding judge.

 

     (k) An outside salesperson.

 

     (l) An employee employed in catching, taking, propagating,

 

harvesting, cultivating, or farming any kind of fish, shellfish, or

 

other aquatic animal or vegetable and including all of the following

 

performed by that employee:

 

     (i) The first processing, canning, or packing incident to those

 

products while at sea.

 

     (ii) Loading or unloading.

 

     (iii) Going to and returning from work.

 

     (m) An employee during the period that the employee receives a

 

training wage under an exception to the general minimum hourly wage

 

established in section 4.

 

     (n) An employee employed in connection with the publication of a

 

weekly, semiweekly, or daily newspaper with a circulation of less than

 

4,000, the major part of which circulation is within the county of

 

publication or counties contiguous to it.

 

     (o) A switchboard operator employed by an independently owned

 

public telephone company with fewer than 750 stations.


 

     (p) An employee employed on a casual basis in domestic service

 

employment to provide companionship services for aged or infirm

 

individuals who are unable to care for themselves or an employee under

 

the age of 18, if he or she is employed in babysitting or similar

 

domestic services at a private home on an irregular or intermittent

 

basis and that work does not regularly exceed 20 hours per week in the

 

aggregate.

 

     (q) A criminal investigator who receives availability pay under 5

 

USC 5545a.

 

     (r) An employee who is a computer systems analyst, computer

 

programmer, software engineer, or other similarly skilled worker who

 

receives compensation at a rate of not less than $27.63 per hour, and

 

whose primary duty is 1 of the following:

 

     (i) The application of systems analysis techniques and

 

procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware,

 

software, or system functional specifications.

 

     (ii) The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation,

 

testing, or modification of computer systems or programs, including

 

prototypes, based on and related to user or system design

 

specifications.

 

     (iii) The design, documentation, testing, creation, or modification

 

of computer programs related to machine operating systems.

 

     (iv) A combination of duties described in subparagraphs (i) to

 

(iii).

 

     (s) An employee for whom the United States secretary of

 

transportation has power to establish qualification and maximum hours

 

of service.


 

     (t) An employee of an employer engaged in the operation of a rail

 

carrier subject to 49 USC 10101 to 11908.

 

     (u) An employee of a carrier by air subject to the provisions of

 

45 USC 181 to 188.

 

     (v) An individual employed as an outside buyer of poultry, eggs,

 

cream, or milk in its raw or natural state.

 

     (w) An employee employed as a seaman.

 

     (x) An employee employed as an announcer, news editor, or chief

 

engineer by a radio or television station, if the major studio of the

 

station is located in either of the following:

 

     (i) A city or town of 100,000 or fewer people, except if the city

 

or town is part of a standard metropolitan statistical area that has a

 

total population greater than 100,000.

 

     (ii) A city or town of 25,000 or fewer people that is at least 40

 

miles from the principal city in a standard metropolitan statistical

 

area.

 

     (y) A salesman, partsman, or mechanic selling or servicing

 

automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, if employed by a

 

nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of

 

selling those vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers.

 

     (z) A salesman primarily engaged in selling trailers, boats, or

 

aircraft, if employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily

 

engaged in the business of selling those items to ultimate purchasers.

 

     (aa) An employee employed as a driver or driver's helper making

 

local deliveries and compensated for that employment on the basis of

 

trip rates or another delivery payment plan that the department of

 

labor and economic growth determines has the general purpose and


 

effect of reducing hours worked to at or below the maximum workweek

 

applicable under this act.

 

     (bb) An employee employed in connection with the operation or

 

maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways that are

 

either not operated for profit or operated on a sharecrop basis and

 

that are used exclusively for supplying or storing water, if at least

 

90% of the water was delivered for agricultural purposes during the

 

preceding calendar year.

 

     (cc) An employee who is primarily employed in agriculture by a

 

farmer, notwithstanding other employment the employee has in

 

connection with livestock auctions operations in which the farmer

 

is engaged as an adjunct to raising livestock, either on the

 

farmer's own account or in conjunction with other farmers, if the

 

employee is paid an hourly wage rate not less than prescribed in

 

section 4.

 

     (dd) An employee working in the area of production for an

 

establishment that is a country elevator, including a country

 

elevator that sells products and services used in farm operations,

 

if no more than 5 employees of that establishment are employed in

 

those operations.

 

     (ee) An employee engaged in transporting or preparing fruits

 

or vegetables for transport from the farm to a place of first

 

processing or first marketing.

 

     (ff) A driver employed by an employer engaged in the business

 

of operating taxicabs.

 

     (gg) An employee who is employed to provide domestic service

 

other than child care in a household and resides in the household


 

of the service recipient.

 

     (hh) An employee who, along with his or her spouse, is

 

employed by a nonprofit educational institution to serve as a

 

parent to orphans or to children whose parent is deceased or to

 

children who are enrolled in and reside in residential facilities

 

of the institution. The exception in this subdivision applies only

 

if the employee and spouse reside in the institutional facilities,

 

receive board and lodging without cost, and are compensated on a

 

cash basis at an annual rate of less than $10,000.00.

 

     (ii) An employee employed by a motion picture theater.

 

     (jj) If the number of employees employed by the employer in

 

forestry or lumbering operations is 8 or fewer, an employee

 

employed in planting or tending trees; cruising, surveying, or

 

felling timber; or preparing or transporting logs or other forestry

 

products to the mill, processing plant, railroad, or other

 

transportation terminal.

 

     (kk) An employee engaged in newspaper delivery to the consumer

 

or a home worker engaged in making wreaths composed primarily of

 

natural holly, pine, cedar, or other evergreens and including

 

harvesting the materials for making the wreaths.

 

     (ll) An employee as to those hours in a workweek that services

 

are performed outside of the United States.

 

     (mm) An employee engaged in processing sugar beets, sugar beet

 

molasses, or sugar cane into sugar or syrup during a period of not

 

more than 14 workweeks in any 52 consecutive weeks, if the employee

 

receives compensation at a rate not less than 1-1/2 times the

 

regular rate at which he or she is employed for hours exceeding 10


 

in any workday and for hours exceeding 48 in any workweek.

 

     (5) The requirement in subsection (1) does not apply to the

 

first 10 hours in excess of 40 hours per week for an employee if

 

all of the following apply:

 

     (a) The employer is providing remedial education to the

 

employee that does not include job specific training during those

 

hours.

 

     (b) The employee lacks a high school diploma or educational

 

attainment at the eighth grade level.

 

     (6)  (5)  The director of the department of  consumer and

 

industry services  labor and economic growth shall promulgate rules  

 

pursuant to  under the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969

 

PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, to define the terms used in

 

subsection (4)  subsections (4) and (5).

 

     (7)  (6)  For purposes of administration and enforcement, an

 

amount owing to an employee that is withheld in violation of this

 

section is unpaid minimum wages under this act.

 

     (8)  (7)  The legislature shall annually appropriate from the

 

general fund to each political subdivision affected by subsection

 

(2) an amount equal to the difference in direct labor costs before

 

and after January 4, 1979  which  that arises from any change in

 

existing law resulting from the enactment of subsection (2) and

 

incurred by each such political subdivision.

 

     (9)  (8)  In lieu of monetary overtime compensation, an

 

employee subject to this act may receive compensatory time off at a

 

rate of not less than 1-1/2 hours for each hour of employment for

 

which overtime compensation is required under this act, subject to


 

all of the following:

 

     (a) The employer allows employees a total of at least 10 days

 

of leave per year without loss of pay and provides the compensatory

 

time to the employee only pursuant to either of the following:

 

     (i) Applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement,

 

memorandum of understanding, or any other written agreement between

 

the employer and representative of the employee.

 

     (ii) If employees are not represented by a collective

 

bargaining agent or other representative designated by the

 

employee, a plan adopted by the employer and provided in writing to

 

its employees that provides employees with a voluntary option to

 

receive compensatory time off for overtime work when there is an

 

express, voluntary written request to the employer by an individual

 

employee for compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay before

 

the performance of any overtime assignment.

 

     (b) The employee has not earned compensatory time in excess of

 

the applicable limit prescribed by subdivision (d).

 

     (c) The employee is not required as a condition of employment

 

to accept or request compensatory time. An employer shall not

 

directly or indirectly intimidate, threaten, or coerce or attempt

 

to intimidate, threaten, or coerce an employee for the purpose of

 

interfering with the employee's rights under this section to

 

request or not request compensatory time off in lieu of payment of

 

overtime compensation for overtime hours, or requiring an employee

 

to use compensatory time. In assigning overtime hours, an employer

 

shall not discriminate among employees based upon an employee's

 

choice to request or not request compensatory time off in lieu of


 

overtime compensation. An employer who violates this subsection is

 

subject to a civil fine of not more than $1,000.00.

 

     (d) An employee may not accrue more than a total of 240 hours

 

of compensatory time. An employer shall do both of the following:

 

     (i) Maintain in an employee's pay record a statement of

 

compensatory time earned by that employee in the pay period that

 

the pay record identifies.

 

     (ii) Provide an employee with a record of compensatory time

 

earned by or paid to the employee in a statement of earnings for

 

the period in which the compensatory time is earned or paid.

 

     (e) Upon the request of an employee who has earned

 

compensatory time, the employer shall, within 30 days following the

 

request, provide monetary compensation for that compensatory time

 

at a rate not less than the regular rate earned by the employee at

 

the time the employee performed the overtime work.

 

     (f) An employee who has earned compensatory time authorized

 

under this subsection shall, upon the voluntary or involuntary

 

termination of employment or upon expiration of this subsection, be

 

paid unused compensatory time at a rate of compensation not less

 

than the regular rate earned by the employee at the time the

 

employee performed the overtime work. A terminated employee's

 

receipt of or eligibility to receive monetary compensation for

 

earned compensatory time shall not be used by either of the

 

following:

 

     (i) The employer to oppose an employee's application for

 

unemployment compensation under the Michigan employment security

 

act, 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, MCL 421.1 to 421.75.


 

     (ii)  The  This state to deny unemployment compensation or

 

diminish an employee's entitlement to unemployment compensation

 

benefits under the Michigan employment security act, 1936 (Ex Sess)

 

PA 1, MCL 421.1 to 421.75.

 

     (g) An employee shall be permitted to use any compensatory

 

time accrued under this subsection for any reason unless use of the

 

compensatory time for the period requested will unduly disrupt the

 

operations of the employer.

 

     (h) Unless prohibited by a collective bargaining agreement, an

 

employer may terminate a compensatory time plan upon not less than

 

60 days' notice to employees.

 

     (i) As used in this subsection:

 

     (i) "Overtime compensation" means the compensation required

 

under this section.  4a.

 

     (ii) "Compensatory time" and "compensatory time off" mean hours

 

during which an employee is not working and for which the employee

 

is compensated in accordance with this subsection in lieu of

 

monetary overtime compensation.

 

     (iii) "Overtime assignment" means an assignment of hours for

 

which overtime compensation is required under this act.

 

     (10) The amendatory act that added this subsection does not

 

deprive an employee or any class of employees of any right to

 

receive overtime compensation or to be paid the minimum hourly wage

 

that existed before the effective date of that amendatory act.

 

     Sec. 14. (1)  This  Except as provided in subsection (2), this

 

act does not apply to an employer who is subject to the minimum

 

wage provisions of the fair labor standards act of 1938,  chapter


 

676, 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C.  29 USC 201 to  216 and 217 to  219,

 

unless application of those federal minimum wage provisions would

 

result in a lower minimum hourly wage than provided in this act.

 

Additionally, this

 

     (2) Beginning October 1, 2006, this act's requirements

 

concerning compensation for employment in a workweek in excess of

 

40 hours apply to an employer who is subject to the minimum wage

 

provisions of the fair labor standards act of 1938, 29 USC 201 to

 

219.

 

     (3) This act does not apply to persons employed in summer

 

camps for not more than 4 months  ,  or to employees with

 

disabilities who are covered by a blanket deviation certificate or

 

other special certificate issued under section  14(c)  14 of the

 

fair labor standards act of 1938,  chapter 676, 52 Stat. 1068, 29

 

U.S.C.  29 USC 214.  , or 

 

     (4) This act does not apply to agricultural fruit growers,

 

pickle growers and tomato growers, or other agricultural employers

 

who traditionally contract for harvesting on a piecework basis, as

 

to those employees  of such employers  used for  such  harvesting

 

until the board  shall have  has acquired sufficient data to

 

determine an adequate basis  for the establishment of  to establish

 

a scale of piecework and  shall determine such  determines a scale

 

equivalent to the prevailing minimum wage for  such  that

 

employment.  , which determination shall occur no later than May 1,

 

1967. Such  The piece rate scale shall be equivalent to the minimum

 

hourly wage in that,  when  if the payment by unit of production is

 

applied to a worker of average ability and diligence in harvesting


 

a particular commodity, he or she  shall receive  receives an

 

amount not less than the hourly minimum wage.

 

     Enacting section 1. Section 7a of the minimum wage law of

 

1964, 1964 PA 154, MCL 408.387a, is repealed.

 

     Enacting section 2. This amendatory act takes effect October

 

1, 2006.