The number of businesses the proposal would exempt had in fact changed during the initiative’s life, Justice Zahra wrote in Friday’s order.
A preapproved version of the proposal decreased the number of employees employers needed to have for the new minimum wage to apply from at least two to one, Justice Zahra said.
But once the group received approval of that language, it circulated for signatures an altered initiative that would have applied minimum wage regulations to employers with 21 or more employees, apparently adding the one next to the two instead of crossing out the latter, Justice Zahra added.
“It was abundantly reasonable for the board to conclude that plaintiff failed to obtain preapproval of an accurate statement of the petition submitted for final approval, which, rather than increasing the minimum wage for all employees, may have served to eliminate it for thousands,” Justice Zahra said.
One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman said in a statement that 610,000 Michigan voters signed a petition and called the high court’s ruling disappointing.
