Michigan Sick Time Law: Accrual, Caps, and Who Qualifies

The Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA) is one of the Michigan labor laws that set a statewide minimum for how employers treat workers. It replaced Michigan’s earlier Paid Medical Leave Act after the state Supreme Court reinstated the original 2018 voter initiative, and it now reaches far more employees. This article explains who the law covers, how paid sick time builds up, how many hours you can use, what counts as a covered reason, and how carryover, pay, and notice work.

Who the Earned Sick Time Act covers

The Act applies to employers with one or more employees in Michigan, across both the private and public sectors. The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) administers it and treats nearly all employees as eligible, including part-time and seasonal workers, as explained in LEO’s Earned Sick Time Act guidance.

Employer size changes only how many hours an employee can use, not whether the law applies. A small business is an employer with 10 or fewer employees, counting full-time, part-time, and temporary workers, including anyone supplied through a staffing agency. Every other employer is a standard employer under the Act.

The start date differed by size. Standard employers have been covered since the Act took effect on February 21, 2025, the date the Michigan Supreme Court set when it reinstated the 2018 initiative in Mothering Justice v Attorney General. Small businesses had until October 1, 2025 to begin complying.

How you earn sick time

Paid sick time accrues as you work. Under the Act, an employee earns a minimum of one hour of paid earned sick time for every 30 hours worked. Accrual begins at the start of employment, or on the employer’s compliance date if that date is later.

An employer can track accrual as hours add up, or it can skip the tracking by granting the full yearly amount at once. That second option, frontloading, is covered further below.

How many hours of paid sick time you get

The yearly usage limit turns on employer size. As of 2026:

• At a standard employer with 11 or more employees, an employee is entitled to use up to 72 hours of paid earned sick time per year.
• At a small business with 10 or fewer employees, an employee is entitled to use up to 40 hours of paid earned sick time per year.

An employer can set a higher limit, but not a lower one. The “year” is a regular 12-month period the employer designates, such as the calendar year or a fixed fiscal year, as noted on the required workplace poster.

What earned sick time can be used for

The Act lists the reasons an employee can take paid sick time. Covered uses include the employee’s or a family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; medical diagnosis, care, or treatment; and preventive medical care.

Earned sick time also covers situations tied to domestic violence or sexual assault affecting the employee or a family member. Those uses include medical care, psychological counseling, services from a victim services organization, relocation, and participation in related legal proceedings, as LEO’s overview brochure lists. Time off is also covered when a public official closes the employee’s workplace, or a child’s school or place of care, for a public health reason.

Carryover, frontloading, and how it is paid

Unused earned sick time does not disappear at year end. Under the accrual method, an employee carries unused time into the next year, though the employer can cap carryover at 72 hours for a standard employer or 40 hours for a small business. An employer can instead pay out the unused balance at year end when its written policy provides for it.

Frontloading is the alternative to accrual. An employer that gives an employee the full yearly amount, at least 72 hours or 40 hours for a small business, at the start of the year and available for immediate use does not have to track accrual or carry hours over, as LEO’s Earned Sick Time Act FAQ describes.

Paid earned sick time is paid at the employee’s normal hourly wage or base wage. The Act does not require the employer to fold overtime pay, holiday pay, bonuses, commissions, piece-rate pay, tips, or gratuities into that rate.

Requesting time and protection from retaliation

How you request earned sick time depends on whether the need is foreseeable.

1. Give notice

   When the need is foreseeable, such as a scheduled appointment, an employer can require advance notice of up to seven days before the sick time begins. When the need is not foreseeable, notice is given as soon as practicable under the circumstances, which the LEO FAQ describes as depending on the facts of each situation.

2. Follow the employer's request process

   Employees follow the employer’s usual and customary procedures for calling in or requesting leave, as long as those procedures do not make using earned sick time harder than the Act allows.

3. Provide documentation if asked

   For longer absences, an employer can ask for reasonable documentation, and the employee is allowed at least three days to provide it. LEO’s guidance in its Earned Sick Time Act FAQ explains the documentation limits that apply.

An employer cannot fire, discipline, or otherwise retaliate against an employee for using earned sick time or for asserting rights under the Act, according to LEO’s Earned Sick Time Act guidance. A worker who believes an employer has violated the law can file an earned sick time complaint with LEO’s Wage and Hour Division.