Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act: What Trucking Companies Must Do

Are you ready for Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA), which will force you to track every driver’s hours—starting February 2025?

Do you have a plan in place, or will your company risk penalties for non-compliance?

For trucking companies already juggling tight deadlines and unique pay structures, this new law creates an urgent challenge: how to track hours for drivers paid by the mile or load. Without preparation, compliance could become a costly problem. We’re here to help.

In this article, we’ll explain why the Earned Sick Time Act demands immediate action and how Superior Trucking Payroll Service can help trucking companies comply with our Timekeeping solution.

What Is Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA)?

The Earned Sick Time Act is a new Michigan law designed to make sure all employees will earn paid sick leave.

Here’s how it works:

Effective Date: February 21, 2025.

Requirements: Employees earn 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Usage: Workers can use up to 72 hours of paid sick leave per year. For companies with fewer than ten employees, it’s a mix of paid and unpaid leave.

The tricky part? For industries like trucking, where most drivers are paid by the mile or load instead of an hourly wage, the law still requires tracking hours worked. This means new systems and processes will need to be put in place to comply with the law.

Why Trucking Companies Must Prepare for ESTA Now

Most trucking companies pay drivers based on miles driven, loads delivered, or even a fixed salary. These pay structures work well for the industry and don’t need to change under the Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA).

What does need to change is how you track your drivers’ working hours.

To comply with ESTA, trucking companies must record every hour a driver works. While this won’t change how drivers are paid, it ensures accurate sick time calculation. This requirement applies to all employees, no matter how they are compensated.

Irregular Work Hours
Trucking schedules can vary greatly. Drivers often have fluctuating workloads depending on delivery times, traffic delays, or seasonal demand. Capturing these hours accurately is no small task.

Current Systems Aren’t Built for This
Most trucking payroll systems are designed to track miles or loads, not hours. Retrofitting these systems to record hours worked may require significant updates.

Tracking Without Overburdening Drivers
Asking drivers to manually log their hours isn’t realistic. Mobile tracking solutions will be key to avoiding errors and easing the burden on both drivers and your office staff.

The good news? This isn’t about paying drivers differently—it’s about creating a way to measure the time they’re already working. With the right tools in place, compliance doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

How to Prepare Your Trucking Company for ESTA Compliance

Getting ready for ESTA starts with focusing on what you can control: tracking hours accurately and efficiently.

Here are the steps to take now:

Audit Your Current Payroll System: Determine if it can track hours worked for all employees, including per-mile and per-load drivers.

Implement an Hour-Tracking Solution: Choose a tool that makes hour-tracking simple without disrupting your current pay structures.

Train Your Team: Educate drivers and office staff about the new requirement, emphasizing that pay methods won’t change—just how hours are tracked.

Get Help from Experts: Superior Trucking Payroll Service’s TimeKeeping add-on can help you comply with these new requirements while simplifying your processes.

Having the right tools in place is key. Our Timekeeping solution makes hour tracking easy, accurate, and fully compliant with ESTA.

How Our Timekeeping Solution Simplifies ESTA Compliance

Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act means trucking companies need to track hours carefully, set up payroll systems, and train their teams to follow the new rules. Our TimeKeeping solution makes this easier, but it’s only available to trucking companies that process their payroll with us.

This tool isn’t just about meeting the law—it helps you manage driver hours without the hassle. It works smoothly with our payroll service, so everything is accurate and connected. Here’s how it helps:

Works with Our Payroll Software: The TimeKeeping system creates an exportable report that works with our payroll software. This saves you time and reduces errors by keeping everything accurate.

Easy for Drivers and Supervisors: Drivers can clock in and out on a mobile app, while supervisors can easily check hours, approve time, and fix issues on a simple dashboard.

Keeps You Compliant: Paired with our payroll expertise, this tool helps make sure your company follows ESTA rules without adding extra work for you or your team.

With our TimeKeeping solution, tracking hours and staying compliant doesn’t have to be hard. By working with Superior Trucking Payroll Service, you’ll have the tools and support you need to follow the law and keep your business running smoothly.

Avoid ESTA Penalties: Start Preparing Today

The Earned Sick Time Act is coming on February 21, 2025, and compliance is not optional. Tracking hours for all employees—whether they’re paid by the mile, load, hour, or salary—is a major change for Michigan trucking companies. Without proper systems in place, you risk compliance headaches, costly penalties, and unnecessary stress.

If you’re already a client, let’s work together to get your TimeKeeping system set up and ready to go.

If you’re not yet working with us, we encourage you to read our article, “Payroll Management: What We Do for Our Clients,” to learn how we could help your trucking company with more than just timekeeping.

Call us today to schedule a demo of our TimeKeeping add-on and start preparing now. February 2025 will be here before you know it—don’t wait until it’s too late!

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Written by Melisa Bush

With over 15 years of experience in the trucking industry, Melisa is well-versed in the complexities of trucking payroll and adept at navigating special circumstances. Before joining Superior Trucking Payroll Service, Melisa worked at a trucking company, where she managed driver miles and expenses for a fleet of 50 trucks. This hands-on experience gives her unique insight into the challenges our clients face when preparing their payroll data.

Melisa’s top priority is customer service. She strives to treat each client as an individual with genuine needs, rather than just another number in the system. Her goal is to alleviate the burdens of our clients and make their daily operations smoother.