AbsentEase
Michigan sick leave law & call-off rules
Michigan's Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA) is the one to re-read even if you thought you knew it: the version that took effect February 21, 2025 was rewritten by amendment the same day it became law. The 2025 rewrite set a 72-hour cap, simplified small-employer duties, removed the 90-day retaliation presumption and the private lawsuit — and expressly allowed discipline for misusing sick time. Anything published before that date describes a law that never operated. Here is what applies in 2026.
Michigan at a glance
| Paid sick leave mandate | Yes — ESTA (as rewritten Feb 21, 2025): 1 per 30, 72-hour cap (40 at ≤10 employees) |
|---|---|
| Attendance points on sick time | Still prohibited — but discipline for documented misuse is now expressly allowed |
| What the 2025 amendment removed | The 90-day retaliation presumption, the private lawsuit, and small-employer unpaid hours |
| Local ordinances | None possible — state law preempts local paid-leave mandates |
| PTO payout at termination | Per written policy only (fringe-benefit rule, MCL 408.473) |
| Final paycheck deadline | Next regularly scheduled payday, fired or quit |
| Meal & rest breaks | None for adults — minors only |
Is paid sick leave required in Michigan?
Yes. ESTA (MCL 408.961 et seq., as amended by 2025 PA 6) covers every Michigan employer with at least one employee: accrual at 1 hour per 30 hours worked, with annual use cappable at 72 hours for employers with more than 10 employees and 40 paid hours at small businesses (10 or fewer — covered since October 1, 2025; the old extra 32 unpaid hours is gone). Front-loading 72 hours (40 for small employers) eliminates carryover and accrual tracking. State law preempts local ordinances, so ESTA is the only layer.
How Michigan's sick leave law works
| Accrual rate | 1 hour per 30 hours worked — or front-load 72 hours (40 at small employers) for the year |
|---|---|
| Caps | Use cappable at 72 hours/year (more than 10 employees) · 40 paid hours at 10 or fewer |
| Carryover | Required under the accrual method (cappable at 72/40); front-loading removes it entirely |
| Covered uses | Own or family illness, injury, or preventive care (broad family definition), safe leave, public-health closures, communicable-disease exposure |
| Doctor's notes | Only after more than 3 consecutive days — and the employee gets up to 15 days to provide it, without bearing the out-of-pocket cost |
| Notice | Up to 7 days for foreseeable use; unforeseeable per your written policy if a copy was provided to the employee |
The anti-retaliation rule, 2025 edition: retaliation and interference with ESTA use remain prohibited — points for protected sick time still violate the Act — but the amendment removed the 90-day presumption of retaliation and the private right of action (enforcement now runs through the state LEO), and it expressly permits discipline for using ESTA time for non-covered purposes. Michigan is the rare mandate state that strengthened the employer's hand on documented misuse.
The federal floor that still applies
FMLA
Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles must give eligible employees (12+ months tenure, 1,250+ hours in the past year) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition — their own or a close family member's. FMLA-protected absences can't accrue attendance points, and a call-off that mentions an ongoing condition can be notice enough to trigger your FMLA obligations, even if the employee never says "FMLA."
ADA
For employers with 15+ employees, the ADA can require modified attendance expectations or unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. An attendance policy applied "no exceptions" is exactly the kind that loses ADA cases — build an accommodation carve-out into the policy itself.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and firing in Michigan
Michigan is at-will, and the 2025 ESTA rewrite left employers more room than most mandate states: pointing protected sick time still violates the Act, but discipline for documented misuse of sick time is expressly permitted, the 90-day presumption is gone, and enforcement runs through the state Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity rather than private lawsuits. "Documented" is the operative word — the misuse defense only works if you can show what the employee claimed at call-off time and what contradicted it. That makes the call-off record valuable in both directions: it protects employees' legitimate ESTA use from stray points, and it's the evidence base when a pattern isn't legitimate. A call-off hotline or text-based call-off system keeps that record verbatim and time-stamped without supervisor effort.
PTO payout and final paychecks
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is fired or laid off | All earned wages due as soon as determinable, no later than the regular payday for the period | MCL 408.475 |
| Employee quits | Same — next regularly scheduled payday | MCL 408.475 |
| Unused vacation / PTO | A fringe benefit payable only per the written contract or policy — a clear written no-payout policy is enforceable | MCL 408.473 |
| Unused ESTA sick time | No payout required at separation | ESTA, as amended |
Michigan enforces the writing in both directions — a written no-payout clause holds, an unwritten practice doesn't. See how PTO accrual works.
Leave Michigan employers must (and must not) provide
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Earned sick time | Yes — paid | 72 hours at 11+ employees; 40 at 10 or fewer |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | No discharge or discipline; scheduling hours that unreasonably interfere with service is a misdemeanor |
| Military | Yes | USERRA (federal) plus Michigan National Guard protections |
| Voting | No | Michigan has no voting-leave statute |
| Meal & rest breaks | No | Adults have no break entitlement; minors get 30 minutes at 5 continuous hours |
The Michigan employer's attendance playbook
- Put it in writing. A written policy — call-off deadline and channel, points or steps, the no-call no-show rule, and carve-outs for legally protected absences — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
- Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
- Log everything with timestamps. Unemployment hearings and discrimination charges are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
- Enforce consistently. Uneven enforcement converts a lawful termination into a discrimination claim.
- Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying points — sickness that could be state-protected sick time or FMLA/ADA territory gets a different track than an overslept alarm.
Comparing states? See all published guides on the state sick leave laws hub.