Michigan minimum wage and tip laws (2026)

The minimum wage in Michigan is $13.73 an hour. It went up from $12.48 on January 1, 2026.

Minimum wage

$13.73

For a 40-hour week

$549.20

Source: Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, 2018 PA 337 as amended by 2025 PA 1 (SB 8), MCL 408.934 Read the rule

Employers in Michigan can pay tipped workers a cash wage as low as $5.49 an hour and count up to $8.24 an hour of tips toward the $13.73 minimum. That is called a tip credit. Your cash wage plus the tips you keep must reach at least $13.73 for every hour in each workweek. If they do not, your employer has to make up the difference.

Tips can count toward the wage

Yes

Tipped cash wage

$5.49

Maximum tip credit

$8.24

Employer must tell you first

Yes

Source: MCL 408.934d (tipped rate is 40% of the minimum wage for 2026; employer must inform the employee in writing at or before hire and obtain written consent, employee must keep all gratuities, and gratuities plus wages must reach the full minimum wage) Read the rule

• Hours past 40 in a workweek are paid at 1.5 times your regular rate.

Overtime rate at minimum wage

$20.595

Overtime cash rate with a tip credit

$12.355

For tipped workers, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. At $13.73, that is $20.595 an hour, so with the full tip credit the overtime cash rate cannot be less than $12.355.

Source: 29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1); 29 CFR 778.107; Fact Sheet #15 (overtime for tipped employees is computed on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage) Read the rule

Michigan does not require meal or rest breaks for adult workers, and neither does federal law. If your employer does give short breaks of 5 to 20 minutes, federal law says those minutes are paid.

Source: 29 CFR 785.18 and 785.19 (federal law does not require breaks; short breaks that are given must be paid) Read the rule

Taxes and deductions you agreed to, like health insurance, are normal. These are the ones that cause trouble in restaurants and bars, and what Michigan allows:

Required uniforms

Only if pay stays above minimum

Register or cash shortages

Only if pay stays above minimum

Broken dishes or equipment

Only if pay stays above minimum

Card processing fee on card tips

Only if pay stays above minimum

Customers who walk out

Only if pay stays above minimum

"Only if pay stays above minimum" means the deduction cannot take your pay for the week below minimum wage. For a worker paid a tipped cash wage, that usually leaves no room for a uniform, shortage, breakage or walkout deduction. A card fee works differently: only the fee on the card tip itself, taken from that tip.

Source: Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefits Act, MCL 408.477 (deductions not required by law need the employee's full, free, written consent, and deductions for the employer's benefit may not reduce gross wages below the minimum wage) Read the rule

Managers and owners can share in the pool

No

Kitchen staff can share when a tip credit is taken

No

Kitchen staff can share when no tip credit is taken

Yes

In most states, an employer can require tipped staff to pool tips with others who serve customers, like bussers, runners and bartenders. Managers, supervisors and owners can never take a share. Under federal law, cooks and dishwashers can share only when the employer takes no tip credit, and some states do not allow it at all. The answers above show the rule in Michigan.

Source: MCL 408.934d (gratuities are the employee's property; employees may voluntarily share with other employees in the chain of service whose duties are not primarily managerial or supervisory) Read the rule

Under federal law, a mandatory service charge, like an automatic 20% on large parties, is not a tip. It belongs to the business unless it is paid out, and when it is paid to you it counts as wages. It cannot be used to cover the tip credit, and it should not be reported as tips on your stub. Some states give the charge to the staff when customers were not clearly told it is not a tip, so if a charge was presented as a gratuity, it is worth asking where it went.

Source: MCL 408.934d (service charges are not gratuities and do not count toward wages due; the employer must give employees and customers written notice of its plan to distribute service charges) Read the rule

Michigan requires employers to give paid sick leave.

You earn

1 hour for every 30 hours worked

Yearly use can be capped at

72 hours

Source: Earned Sick Time Act, 2018 PA 338 as amended in 2025 by HB 4002, MCL 408.963 (1 hour per 30 hours worked; use capped at 72 hours per year, 40 hours for small businesses with 10 or fewer employees) Read the rule

Some parts of Michigan law depend on things a pay stub does not show. A TruWage result for Michigan can be off if any of these apply to you:

• If money was taken from your pay for a cash shortage, breakage, uniform or walkout without your full, free, written consent, Michigan treats it as unlawful even though this check only flags deductions that drop you below minimum wage.

Start with your manager or payroll and show them the numbers. Many mistakes get fixed that way. If it is not fixed, you can file a wage claim. It is free and you do not need a lawyer.

Agency

Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), Bureau of Employment Relations, Wage and Hour Division

File online (Wage and Benefit Complaint Form) or by paper form WHD-9430. Minimum wage and overtime complaints must be filed within 3 years of the violation, earned sick time complaints within 3 years, and other unpaid wage or fringe benefit complaints within 12 months.

How to file a wage claim