In a show of solidarity against a pending minimum wage hike, Republican lawmakers walked out of the Michigan House late last week as talks stalled over minimum wage and paid sick leave bills.

Business groups and servers have lobbied legislators for months to change laws that will take effect in February. The bills’ fate looks grim after the House adjourned late Friday without taking up the legislation.

Business groups say raising the minimum wage, which will phase out the tipped minimum wage, will be a death knell to restaurants, hotels, and other mom-and-pop businesses.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

“Amongst Michigan’s 20,000 restaurants and nearly 500,000 workers, today will be remembered as a tragically avoidable failure of leadership by the Democratic leaders of the House and the Senate,” said Justin Winslow, president of the Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association, in a statement.

Republicans left the Michigan House floor on Thursday in protest, hoping to put pressure on Democrats to take up wage and sick leave bills. The protest continued during a press conference held by Republican Speaker-elect Matt Hall, who was joined by the full House GOP caucus all wearing red “Save MI Tips” buttons.

“Put up legislation right now to keep the earned sick leave policies alive and to protect our restaurant workers,” Hall said during the press conference. “And we aren’t going to come back on to the floor today until that happens.”

HB 6056 and HB 5057 were introduced in November by state Rep. Nate Shannon, D-Sterling Heights, and state Rep. Graham Filler, R-St. Johns, to keep the tipped rate, according to this Bridge Michigan article.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

The minimum wage bills would have modified pending earned sick time rules for employers and preserved the state’s tipped credit for restaurant workers, which would otherwise be phased out under a recent court order.

The biggest point of contention – even among servers and bartenders who have rallied in Lansing – is the elimination of the tipped wage credit. Servers and bartenders are concerned customers will stop tipping and packed the State Capitol Building last week to urge lawmakers to address the legislation.

Without changes, industry leaders predict menu prices could rise as much as 25% or more restaurants will close. A MRLA survey from June found many restaurants are barely hanging on, and the state’s restaurant industry is still struggling to recover from COVID-19 losses.

Winslow blamed the fallout that is coming on House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids.

“They have abandoned Michigan’s hospitality industry,” Winslow said in a statement. “In a hyper-polarized environment, where virtually every piece of legislation has moved with the narrowest of majorities, the Legislature failed to do the one thing that the public overwhelmingly wanted, that tens of thousands of impacted workers cried out for, and that thousands of small businesses needed – to responsibly raise the minimum wage while restoring Michigan’s tip credit before its absence decimated an industry for the second time in five years.”

Bipartisan legislation introduced earlier this month would leave the state’s tipping wage at its current rate but still increase the general minimum wage to $15 by 2029. A second bill would adjust the sick leave law, but it’s not yet clear what the final version of that proposal might look like.

Republicans protested the lack of movement on the bills by boycotting about 60 other votes. Democrats continued passing legislation, including bills that aim to deter a form of online threats known as “sextortion,” until the session was abruptly cut short when a Democrat went home.

Republicans said small businesses and the working people of Michigan wanted this issue addressed.

“(What) the people in Michigan care about is that their representatives are fighting for the small businesses of their districts to fix the roads and to improve life for workers, which would happen if we fixed the sick leave policy,” Hall said.

Michigan’s impending minimum wage changes stem from a July ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court that upheld a citizen initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage and eliminate the state’s tipping wage — currently $3.93 an hour.

Under court order, the new rules, which are set to take effect in February, phase out the state’s lower tipped wage and raise Michigan’s current $10.33 an hour minimum wage to just shy of $15 by 2028.

Businesses with 10 or more employees must also provide up to 72 hours of paid sick leave per year, while smaller firms will have to provide up to 40 hours per year. Unused sick time could rollover year-over-year.

Due to parliamentary rules and the number of days left on the Legislature’s calendar, bills must pass out of the House soon to stay alive and possibly reach the governor’s desk before the session ends. Besides resistance from Republicans, House Democrats have struggled to get on the same page, deferring votes over multiple days and spending hours behind closed doors as the clock expires on their lame-duck agenda.