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Michigan Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA)

On February 21, 2025, the State of Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA) is scheduled to go into effect.  This act will provide guaranteed paid sick time to all employees, including non-benefited employees (e.g. adjuncts, under half-time, and student employees).  This law contains regulations that will require changes to our current paid leave policies affecting all employees, including our sick leave, paid leave (for hourly and salaried employees), and Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) policies.  These changes will be updated in our employee handbook online early next week, pending the outcome of some last minute negotiations happening in the Michigan State House.

Please note:

• If an exempt employee (salaried faculty, administrators, staff, and adjuncts/contracts) has sick leave that needs to be reported for February 21-28, the leave report should not be submitted until notified to do so. The employee and supervisor deadlines will be extended for the month of February.
• If an hourly employee has sick leave to be reported for February 21-22, use your Paid Leave bank. If the employee has sick leave to be reported for February 23 on, use the new ESTA leave bank once available.

Some of the changes will include:

1. All employees (both benefited and non-benefited) will have paid sick leave
   1. Non-benefit eligible employees will accrue 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked
   2. Benefit eligible employees will accrue 1.154 hours of sick time for every 30 hours worked (up to 10 days/80 hours annually when working 40 hrs/week).
2. Hourly Leave
   1. Leave Banks
      1. Hourly employee’s paid leave bank has consisted of the following accruals: 6 days of short-term sick time, 10 days of holidays, 10-20 days (2-4 weeks) of vacation. This will now be split into three separate banks: sick time, holiday time, and paid-leave (vacation/personal) time.
      2. The current balance in an employee’s paid-leave bank will not be adjusted and remain available for vacation/personal paid time off.
      3. A new holiday pay bank will ensure that all benefit eligible employees receive paid holidays–more detailed information will follow next week.
      4. All sick time, for all employees, will now be tracked in a new sick bank. Any existing long-term sick bank balance will be moved to this bank. Going forward, benefit-eligible employees will accrue the equivalent of the previous short-term sick and long-term sick accruals (6 days + 4 days) into this new ESTA sick bank. There is no accrual or rollover cap on this bank.
   2. Leave Year
      1. The current leave year cycle (July-June) will now change to September-August; this will align all of our leave years and allow employees to take full advantage of their accrued vacation during the summer.
      2. The new paid-leave bank (vacation/personal time) will accrue 10-20 days based on the years of service and will now be limited to a new 10-day maximum rollover. Recognizing that this is a change for hourly employees, as part of the transition hourly employees will have until August 30, 2026 to utilize their paid-leave bank before any rollover cap is applied. 
3. Salaried Leave
   1. The Extended Sick Leave policy is being replaced by the new ESTA sick leave bank, and applies to all salaried Administrative, Faculty, and Staff employees.
   2. Recognizing that this is a change for salaried employees, this bank will be front-loaded with 3-9 weeks of sick leave time, depending on years of service.
   3. Going forward, benefit-eligible employees will accrue sick time into this bank on a per pay period basis. There is no accrual or rollover cap on this bank.
   4. Sick leave hours taken will need to be reported on a monthly leave report; salaried staff will combine this with their vacation reporting. Both sick leave and vacation usage (where applicable) will now be reported in 1 hour increments. Leave reports must be submitted monthly, regardless of usage/non-usage.
4. Non-Benefit Eligible Exempt employees (including adjuncts) Sick Leave
   1. Sick time will be accrued into an ESTA leave bank on a per pay period basis. There is no accrual or rollover cap on this bank.
   2. Sick leave hours taken will need to be reported on a monthly leave report in 1 hour increments. Leave reports must be submitted monthly, regardless of usage/non-usage.
5. Non-Benefit Eligible Hourly employees (including student employees) Sick Leave
   1. Sick time will be accrued into an ESTA leave bank on a per pay period basis. There is no accrual or rollover cap on this bank.
   2. Sick leave hours taken will need to be reported bi-weekly on the employee’s timesheet.