Pay Frequency and Wage-Payment Lag Requirements in Michigan

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Michigan supplies a semimonthly calendar by default

Under MCL 408.472(1), wages earned during the first 15 days of a month are due by the first day of the next month. Wages earned from the sixteenth through month-end are due by the fifteenth day of the next month. More-frequent payment is expressly permitted.

This calendar is subject to the weekly, biweekly, monthly, and crop-harvest alternatives in the following subsections. It should not be summarized as an exceptionless semimonthly mandate.

Weekly, biweekly, and monthly alternatives have fixed lags

An established regularly scheduled weekly or biweekly payroll complies when wages arrive on the recurring payday no later than 14 days after the work period ends. An established monthly payroll complies when all wages from the monthly period are paid within 15 days after that period ends.

Monthly is therefore the least frequent general schedule. A weekly or biweekly employer cannot borrow the monthly 15-day lag; each alternative carries its own statutory deadline.

Crop harvesting and December overtime differ

An individual engaged in any phase of hand harvesting crops must receive all wages earned in a week by the second day after the workweek, unless a written contract agrees on another payment method.

December overtime has a narrow year-end exception. When it otherwise would be paid after December 16, the employer may pay the non-overtime December wages on the regular payday and the overtime by the next regularly scheduled payday after the payday on which it otherwise would have been paid.

Administrative enforcement

An employee generally has 12 months after the alleged violation to file a written complaint with the Department. For a § 408.472 violation, the Department must order wages due and a 10% annual penalty running from notice of the complaint until payment. It may add exemplary damages up to twice the amount due for a flagrant or repeated violation, specified costs, and a civil penalty up to $1,000 credited to the State general fund. The labor director brings the civil action needed to enforce a final agency order under MCL 408.489.

What trips people up

Michigan's first-and-fifteenth language describes deadlines for the preceding half-months. It does not mean wages earned on the first are payable the same day.

Monthly payroll is lawful only with an established regularly scheduled monthly pay period and payment of all wages within 15 days after it ends. Calling an employee salaried does not itself create that compliant schedule.

The crop-harvest provision is substantially faster than the general rules and has its own written-contract alternative. It should not be expanded to all agricultural work beyond the statutory phrase "hand harvesting of crops."

Common questions

May a Michigan employer pay monthly?

Yes. All wages earned in an established monthly pay period must be paid within 15 days after that period ends.

How late may a biweekly payday be?

No later than the fourteenth day after the work period in which the wages were earned, and it must be the established regularly recurring payday.

Is there a special holiday payroll rule?

There is a narrow rule for December overtime that otherwise would be paid after December 16. It does not generally postpone all December wages.

Statutes and sources

• MCL 408.471. Employer, employee, wage, and fringe-benefit definitions. Official text (accessed August 16, 2026).
• MCL 408.472. Semimonthly dates, weekly/biweekly/monthly alternatives, crop-harvest timing, and December overtime. Official text (accessed August 16, 2026).
• MCL 408.481. Administrative complaint and review process. Official text (accessed August 16, 2026).
• MCL 408.488-.489. Payment orders, employee and State penalties, costs, and enforcement of final agency orders. Official § 408.488 and official § 408.489 (accessed August 16, 2026).