Effective March 29th, 2019, the Michigan Paid Medical Leave Act requires employers to provide sick leave for employees that work an average of 25 hours weekly or more. In a bid to prevent providing sick leave for temporary student workers, they’re further reducing our maximum of 28 hours weekly to 20 hours weekly.

In 2018, working 28 hours weekly at $9.25 gives us $518 per pay period (before taxes).

In 2019, the Michigan Paid Medical Leave Act becomes effective and minimum wage increases again. Delta College chooses to reduce the student worker weekly hour limit to 20 hours per week.

In 2019, working 20 hours weekly at $9.45 gives us $378 per pay period (before taxes).

In response to this, many of us have are left helpless and looking for a second job to stay afloat. Many of us work at Delta because they’re flexible with our schedules and we can reduce a lot of travel time driving from work to school. By making such a drastic cut, Delta College administration is creating a situation in which students are expected to take a full credit load and balance two jobs to offset the hour cut. This can be detrimental to the student's success.

However, since the Michigan Paid Medical Leave Act only applies to employees that work over 25 hours weekly, we should be allowed to work up to 24 hours weekly.

In this hypothetical 2019, working 24 hours weekly at $9.45 would give us $453.6 per pay period (before taxes).

We understand being reduced in hours to prevent collecting sick leave. We’re just asking you to reconsider the hours cut and consider letting us work up to 24. Thank you.