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State law lookup › Unpaid wages › Michigan

Unpaid wages in Michigan: what the law says

My employer owes me wages

State law

What the statute says

Final pay detail
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.

Penalty for paying late
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.

State minimum wage
$13.73 / hour
Overtime beyond federal law
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.

Liquidated damages
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.

Time limit to sue
6 years

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.

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

Read this before relying on the numbers above

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.

Read it yourself

Official sources. If a number below matters to your case, open the statute and read it — laws get amended, and cities often stack stricter local rules on top.

Last checked: 2026-08-17

Our full guide for this state

Michigan Unpaid Wages Demand Letter: Laws and Deadlines →

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States we have checked for this situation

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Jab Today is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. This page describes how the statutes read, which is a different thing from what will happen in your case. Laws are amended and local ordinances often add stricter rules. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.