The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association is warning that 20% of restaurants will close, 92% will hike prices, and 68% will lay off employees as a result of a recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling.

Changes that go into effect in February will require employers to offer paid sick leave and transition tipped workers to minimum wage, prompting fears from servers and bartenders about the looming pay cut on the horizon.

“I think once everyone learns that we’re all on minimum wage, I don’t think they’ll tip the 20% anymore,” Tami Jo Schultz, a waitress at Hof Bar and Grill in Free Soil, told MLive. “I think it will be more like 5%, maybe 10%, if that.”

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Republicans including House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, believe “the Legislature must return to the Capitol immediately, because this decision will completely disrupt the livelihoods of hard-working Michiganders.”

Democrats that control the legislature, however, have been “radio silent” since the July 31 ruling, Hall’s spokesman Jeremiah Ward told MLive, as aligned groups celebrate decision as a win for workers.

Despite an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 jobs and thousands of businesses on the line, Democrats have remained on summer vacation since the day the ruling was issued, with no obvious plans to accomplish anything before their scheduled return in mid-September.

“Lansing Democrats should stop hiding and come to the table, work together with Republicans, find a bipartisan solution, and protect Michigan jobs,” Ward told the news site. “That starts with protecting tipped wages for restaurant servers who will see smaller paychecks under this unfair ruling.

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“The clock is ticking, and the Legislature shouldn’t leave struggling workers and small businesses hanging until after the election just to find out if they’ll be able to survive.”

“Senator Nesbitt made it very clear that the Republican caucus was ready and willing to come back to town and address this disastrous decision from the Supreme Court,” said Jeff Wiggins, press secretary for Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt. “Why Governor Whitmer and the Democrat majorities refuse to act at this time is something you’ll have to ask them. We’re ready to get to work to save Michigan jobs.”

Unfortunately, Whitmer and her Democratic allies in the legislature aren’t interested in discussing the problem.

A Whitmer spokesperson told MLive the governor’s team is still reviewing the decision, while Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, declined comment beyond her initial statement two weeks ago that her “legal team will be reviewing the Supreme Court’s decision over the following days.”

It’s a similar deal with House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, who conceded Democrats have no clear plan to address the fallout, though they plan to meet with stakeholders, lawmakers and others “over the next several weeks,” MLive reports.

“Speaker Tate understands that stability is essential for workers and small-business owners, alike,” said Tate spokeswoman Amber McCann told the news site. “Workers must be confident in the reliability of their wages and compensation in order to make critical decisions related to their personal success and the stability of their family.

“Similarly, small-business owners need certainty when it comes to state laws and regulations.”

While Democrats delay, Michigan restaurants continue to struggle to recover from Whitmer’s pandemic edicts years later, with 59% telling the MRLA in a recent survey they have fewer customers than a year ago.

“We are in the bottom third of all state – Michigan is – in terms of the restaurant industry workforce growth since the pandemic. So, we are slow to recover,” MRLA CEO Justin Winslow told WJRT, pointing to inflation as a major factor. “It is what is driving the challenge for restaurant operators right now, it is what is pushing them to the brink of whether they can or will keep their doors open.”

Tipped workers, meanwhile, are already feeling the pain from the Supreme Court ruling.

Emma Caperton, a former server who now works for 4GR8Food Group that owns multiple West Michigan restaurants, told MLive her friends still working as servers have “already seen a dip in their tips because people are under the impression that they’re already being switched to minimum wage.”

“They have already had a few people write on their bills ‘Good lock with hourly’ or whatever,” she said. “That’s already seeming to affect my friends in their workplace.”