Michigan Senate Moves Towards Increasing UIA Benefits & Workers’ Comp Premiums
December 4, 2024
The Senate Labor Committee will be hearing testimony tomorrow, December 5, 2024, on bills that would increase your costs substantially. We need you to act now and tell them how this will negatively impact your small business.
Senate Bill 40 would increase unemployment insurance maximum benefit weeks from 20 to 26, and future amendments to the bill could increase the maximum benefit amount as well. Members of the committee have expressed support for increasing the maximum benefit amount from $362 per week to as high as $602 per week, with automatic annual increases.
Senate Bills 1079 & 1080 would gut Michigan’s workers’ compensation system and would drastically increase premiums for employers. These bills would alter and expand the definition of disability, eliminate many work search requirements, and would even apply changes retroactively all the way back to 1985.
Over the next month, the legislature will consider many bills that would make it more difficult to do business in Michigan, and these two bills are amongst the most harmful. We are calling on members to make your voice heard in Lansing, and to build momentum against these proposals. We understand your time is valuable, but we encourage you to reach out to your Senator, as this truly is crunch-time for many legislative issues.