Bill Text: MI SB0948 | 2025-2026 | 103rd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Labor: fair employment practices; requirement for an employee to access or respond to work-related communications outside of usual work hours; prohibit. Creates new act.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-05-07 - Referred To Committee On Labor [SB0948 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2025-SB0948-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL NO. 948
A bill to prohibit employers from requiring certain employees to access certain communications at certain times; to prohibit retaliation; to prohibit certain waivers; to provide remedies; to provide for the powers and duties of certain state and local governmental officers and entities; and to require the promulgation of rules.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 1. This act may be cited as the "workplace employee boundaries act".
(a) "Department" means the department of labor and economic opportunity.
(b) "Employee" means an individual, or an authorized representative who acts on behalf of an individual, who is employed by, or who is an independent contractor who provides services to or through, an employer.
(c) "Employer" means any individual, partnership, firm, business, educational institution, corporation, limited liability company, government entity, or other entity that employs 1 or more individuals. Employer includes an agent of an employer.
(d) "Hours of availability" means the hours an employee establishes under section 3(2).
(e) "Retaliatory personnel action" means interference with or an action to deny any right granted to an employee under this act. Retaliatory personnel action includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:
(i) Threatening an employee.
(ii) Discharging, suspending, demoting, or reducing the work hours of an employee.
(iii) Reporting or threatening to report the suspected citizenship or immigration status of an employee or employee's family member to a federal, state, or local agency.
(iv) Any other adverse action against an employee in response to an employee's exercise of a right granted under this act.
(f) "Work-related communication" includes, but is not limited to, an email, text message, group message, telephone call, or social media message that concerns an employee's employment, or employment duties, including, but not limited to, scheduling future work hours.
Sec. 3. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (2) and (3), an employer shall not require an employee to access or respond to a work-related communication outside of the employee's usual work hours.
(2) An employee may establish hours of availability outside of the employee's usual work hours during which the employee is available to access and respond to a work-related communication. If an employee establishes hours of availability, the employee shall notify the employee's employer of the specific hours. Except as otherwise provided under subsection (3), an employer shall not require an employee to access or respond to a work-related communication outside of the employee's hours of availability.
(3) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(a) An emergency declared by the state or federal government that requires first responders and impedes an employer's normal business operations.
(b) A notice or alert that needs to be timely delivered to all of an employer's employees or a subset of an employer's employees.
(c) A notice to an on-call employee if the on-call employee is compensated for being on call.
Sec. 4. (1) An employer shall not take retaliatory personnel action against an employee because the employee does either of the following:
(a) Exercises a right granted to the employee under this act.
(b) Uses any of the following to notify a person that the employee is not available to access or respond to a work-related communication outside of the employee's usual work hours or hours of availability:
(i) An email or text message signature line.
(ii) An automatic reply email or text message.
(iii) A voice mail message.
(2) An employer shall not retaliate or discriminate against an individual because the individual has done or was about to do any of the following:
(a) Testify, assist, or participate in an investigation, proceeding, or action concerning a violation of this act.
(b) Oppose a violation of this act.
Sec. 5. An employer shall not require an individual to waive or limit any protection granted under this act as a condition of applying for or receiving an offer of employment. An agreement to waive any right or protection under this act is void.
Sec. 6. (1) An individual who is injured by a violation of this act may file a complaint with the department. The complaint must include the date and time that the violation occurred and any other evidence of the violation.
(2) Upon receipt of a complaint described in subsection (1), the department shall investigate and determine if a violation of this act occurred.
(3) If the department determines that an employer violated this act, the department may do 1 or more of the following:
(a) Impose a fine of not more than $500.00 for each violation of this act. The prosecutor of the county in which the violation occurs or the attorney general may bring an action to collect the fine.
(b) For each hour or part of an hour in which an employee was required to be available to respond to a work-related communication in violation of this act, require the employer to pay the employee compensation at not less than 1-1/2 times the employee's regular hourly rate, or, if the employee earns a yearly salary, the employee's regular hourly rate equivalent.
(c) Require the employer to complete professional development training on workplace boundaries. An employer ordered to complete training under this subdivision must provide proof of completion to the department. The department shall develop, adopt, or approve the professional development training described in this subdivision.
Sec. 7. If an employer's employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement in effect on the effective date of this act, this act applies beginning on the stated expiration date in the collective bargaining agreement.
Sec. 8. The department shall promulgate rules to implement this act under the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328.
