Going Out in Michigan May Get More Expensive Thanks to a New Law

Michigan’s new Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA) just went into effect, and businesses across the state are feeling the effects. While it's great news for employees who will now be able to earn and use sick time when they didn't have access to it before, it also means more rising prices for business owners in an already complicated economic time.

One of those includes popular Grand Rapids bar, Logan’s Alley who now says they will have to raise their prices in order to stay legal in the eyes of this new law.

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According to a statement they posted to their Facebook page earlier this week, in order oo comply with the law, which requires businesses with more than 10 employees to provide up to 72 hours of earned sick time per year, Logan’s is introducing a small 1.15% fee on all checks.

Instead of raising menu prices quietly, the bar is opting for transparency in the reason they’re raising their prices by labeling the new charge as the “Michigan Sick Leave Fee.” Since Logan’s, which has 19 employees, falls into the “large business” category under the law, it will now have to offer sick leave for it’s employees despite being a small, local establishment.

In their statement, Logan’s Alley explained that while they fully support providing benefits to their employees, the cost of doing so (along with those recent minimum wage increases the state is seeing) has forced them to make adjustments.

And while the cost of living is going up for everyone, is it really worth purposely making a scene to your customers just to say that you’re finally offering them time off (that they have to acquire by working a certain amount of hours) when they’re unable to work?

This may become a trend among Michigan businesses who are figuring out how to handle the financial impact of our state’s new labor laws. With minimum wage set to be $15 by 2027, and the tipped wage increasing over the next few years as well, don’t be shocked if more local restaurants may add similar fees or raise their prices as well to accommodate the new law.

While it’s great that these employees will finally be able to take a day off without losing their wages, as they very well deserve, everything comes at a cost (especially to us as consumers.)