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Salarios no pagados en Míchigan: qué dice la ley

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Ley estatal

Lo que dice la ley

Detalle del pago final: No fixed number of days for ordinary employees — Michigan uses a 'due diligence' standard, not a day count. MCL 408.475(1) (voluntary quit): 'An employer shall pay to an employee voluntarily leaving employment all wages earned and due, as soon as the amount can with due diligence be determined.
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However, an employer shall pay all wages earned and due to an employee engaged in any phase of the hand harvesting of crops as soon as the amount can, with due diligence, be determined, but, in any event, not later than 3 days after the employee's voluntary termination of employment.' MCL 408.475(2) (discharge): 'An employer shall immediately pay to an employee who has been discharged from employment all wages earned and due, as soon as the amount can with due diligence be determined.' MCL 408.475(3) carves out contract employees whose amount due cannot be determined until the contract ends; in that case the employer pays estimated wages under MCL 408.472 and makes final payment in full at contract termination. Backstop pay-frequency rule, MCL 408.472: semimonthly by default — wages for the 1st-15th paid on or before the 1st of the next month and wages for the 16th-end of month paid on or before the 15th; an employer with a regular weekly or biweekly payday complies if payday falls on or before the 14th day after the end of the work period; a monthly pay period must be paid within 15 days of period end.
Sanción por pago tardío: MCL 408.488(1): the department 'shall order' a violating employer to pay wages due, fringe benefits due, and 'a penalty at the rate of 10% annually on the wages and fringe benefits due beginning at the time the employer is notified that a complaint has been filed and ending when payment is made.' Note the trigger: interest-style penalty runs from notice of the complaint, NOT from the date the wages became due — so delay in filing costs the employee money.
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MCL 408.488(3) allows the department to order the employer to pay attorney costs, hearing costs, and transcript costs. MCL 408.488(4) allows a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 against the employer, credited to the state general fund (not to the employee). Michigan has no California-style per-day wage penalty.
Salario mínimo estatal: $13.73 / hora
Horas extra más allá de la ley federal: No rule stronger than the FLSA for private employers. MCL 408.934a(1): 'Except as otherwise provided in this act, an employee shall receive compensation at not less than 1-1/2 times the regular rate at which the employee is employed for employment in a workweek in excess of 40 hours.' There is no Michigan daily-overtime requirement for private employers.
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The act does contain alternative public-sector work periods: MCL 408.934a(2) allows a 216-hour/28-day threshold for state and local fire protection and law enforcement employees (pro-rated for 7-27 day work periods), and MCL 408.934a(3) allows public hospitals and residential care institutions to use a 14-day work period with overtime after 8 hours in a workday and 80 hours in the 14 days. MCL 408.934a(4) exempts bona fide executive, administrative and professional employees, public elective officeholders, certain political appointees, employees of amusement or recreational establishments operating 7 months or less per year, agricultural employees, and any employee not subject to the act's minimum wage provisions.
Daños liquidados: Discretionary, not automatic, and capped at double. MCL 408.488(2): the department 'may order an employer who violates section 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 to pay to the employee exemplary damages of not more than twice the amount of the wages and fringe benefits which were due, if the violation is flagrant or repeated.' Two conditions therefore gate it: the award is permissive ('may'), and the violation must be flagrant or repeated.
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An ordinary good-faith late final paycheck would not qualify.
Plazo para demandar: 6 años
SIX years to sue in court: unpaid wages are a contract action under MCL 600.5807(9), with the residual MCL 600.5813 likewise six years. The ONE-year figure previously published is only the window to file an administrative complaint with LEO under MCL 408.481(1) — missing it does not end the claim.
Quién atiende quejas: Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), Bureau of Employment Relations, Wage and Hour Division

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The $13.73 rate is fixed for all of calendar 2026 rather than adjusted for inflation, and it steps up to $15.00 an hour on January 1, 2027. Some workers are on different rates. Employees under 18 are entitled to 85 percent of the general minimum, and a newly hired employee under 20 may be paid a training wage of $4.25 an hour for their first 90 days.

Michigan's minimum wage and overtime rules do not reach every workplace. They apply to employers that had two or more employees at any one time during the calendar year, and to employees aged 16 and over. An employer smaller than that falls outside these state rules.

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Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.475 (Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefits Act, 1978 PA 390, § 5) — MCL 408.475 — Payment of wages to employee voluntarily leaving employment; payment to employee discharged; exception. Full verbatim text from the official Michigan Legislature site. History: 1978, Act 390, Imd. Eff. Aug. 1, 1978 (no later amendment shown).
Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.472 (1978 PA 390, § 2) — MCL 408.472 — Payment of wages; time; weekly/biweekly/monthly paydays. Full verbatim text. History: 1978, Act 390; Am. 2018, Act 170, Eff. Sept. 2, 2018.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.488 (1978 PA 390, § 18) — MCL 408.488 — Violations; ordering payments; civil penalty. Full verbatim text: mandatory wages + fringe benefits + 10% annual penalty from date of complaint notice; discretionary exemplary damages up to twice the amount due if flagrant or repeated; costs; $1,000 civil penalty to the state general fund. History: 1978, Act 390; Am. 1978, Act 602, Imd. Eff. Jan. 4, 1979.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.481 (1978 PA 390, § 11) — MCL 408.481(1) — 'An employee who believes that his or her employer has violated this act may file a written complaint with the department within 12 months after the alleged violation. A complaint filed under section 13(2) shall be filed within 30 days after the alleged violation occurs.' Also sets the investigation, 90-day determination, and 14-day review-request procedure. History: 1978, Act 390; Am. 1978, Act 602.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.934 (Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, 2018 PA 337, § 4, as amended by 2025 PA 1) — MCL 408.934 — Minimum hourly wage rate, verbatim: '(a) Beginning February 21, 2025, $12.48. (b) Beginning January 1, 2026, $13.73. (c) Beginning January 1, 2027, $15.00.' Subsection (2) starts CPI (Midwest CPI-U) indexing only in October 2027 for the year beginning January 1, 2028; subsection (3) suspends an indexed increase if state unemployment was 8.5% or greater the preceding year. History: 2018, Act 337, Eff. Mar. 29, 2019; Am. 2018, Act 368; 2018, Act 337, Eff. Feb. 21, 2025; Am. 2025, Act 1, Imd. Eff. Feb. 21, 2025.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.934a (2018 PA 337, § 4a) — MCL 408.934a — Overtime: 1-1/2 times regular rate over 40 hours per workweek; public-safety 216-hour/28-day and public-hospital 14-day/80-hour alternatives; exemptions in subsection (4).
Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.934b (2018 PA 337, § 4b) — MCL 408.934b — Training wage $4.25/hour for a new employee under 20 for the first 90 days; minimum wage for an employee under 18 is 85% of the general minimum; anti-displacement rule with civil fine up to $1,000. History: 2018, Act 337, Eff. Mar. 29, 2019.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.932 (2018 PA 337, § 2, as amended by 2025 PA 1) — MCL 408.932 — Definitions: 'Employer' means a person, firm, or corporation ... 'that employs 2 or more employees at any 1 time within a calendar year'; 'Employee' means an individual not less than 16 years of age. History: 2018, Act 337; Am. 2025, Act 1, Imd. Eff. Feb. 21, 2025.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 408.933 (2018 PA 337, § 3) — MCL 408.933 — 'An employer shall not pay any employee at a rate that is less than prescribed in this act.'
Mich. Dep't of Labor & Economic Opportunity, Wage & Hour Div., Minimum Wage & Overtime — Michigan LEO, Wage and Hour Division — Minimum Wage & Overtime (official agency page): 'Effective January 1, 2026, the minimum wage rate is $13.73 per hour. Effective January 1, 2027, the minimum wage rate is $15.00 per hour.' Page also states: 'On Feb. 21, 2025, key changes [to] Michigan's minimum wage laws went into effect. Senate Bill 8 will incrementally increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2027,' and identifies the governing law as the 'Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act - Public Act 337 of 2018.'
Mich. Dep't of Labor & Economic Opportunity, Bureau of Employment Relations, Wage & Hour Division — Michigan LEO, Bureau of Employment Relations — Wage and Hour Division landing page (agency identification)

Última verificación: 2026-08-17

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