MICHIGAN, USA — A new order from the Michigan Supreme Court is causing confusion and frustration at some West Michigan courthouses.
The decision requires county courts to close Monday, June 20, in observation of Juneteenth. The issue: administrators say they didn't have time to create a paid holiday, and some employees now have to use a PTO day.
On June 1, 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court issued an Administrative Order amending the Michigan Court Rules to include Juneteenth (June 19) on the list of holidays recognized by the state's trial courts.
That order requires that all courts close in it's observance, and was effective immediately.
Days later, on June 3, the State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) informed the local courts through a memorandum of the order and the immediate change needing to be made. That left only three weeks for counties to figure out what to do as far as paying their court employees.
Plus, a majority of the courts already had full dockets on Monday, June 20.
"The Michigan Supreme Court said we really need to observe this new holiday, and that we should work with our county funding units to figure out the pay situation," explained Sandra Vanderhyde, Circuit Court Administrator for the Muskegon County Family Court, "so it did propose a little bit of an issue then for the courts. because we had just three weeks to prepare everything for this holiday."
In Ottawa County, that time constraint proved to be a frustration for some viewers that reached out to 13 ON YOUR SIDE, as court employees there will not be getting Juneteenth as a paid holiday.
In a statement, Ottawa County Administrator John Shay said the following:
"The last-minute decision by the Michigan Supreme Court did not provide sufficient time for the County to reach agreements with all seven collective bargaining groups on how to implement this order. In response to this, the County met with the Chief Judges of the Ottawa County Circuit, Probate and District courts and the Clerk's office in order to come up with a resolution that treats all employees (court employees and County employees) as fairly as possible.
We looked at several options, including providing a paid holiday for court employees. We ultimately decided not to choose this option since court employees would receive a paid holiday, but County employees would not receive it. If we provided a paid holiday for both court and County employees, it would cost the County approximately $250,000. We decided to provide as many options as possible to the court employees to lessen any impact on them. The court employees could:
• Take 8 hours of any remaining paid leave time for Monday, June 20th that they have.
• Work the additional 8 hours sometime during the weeks of June 13 and June 20, such as working four 10-hour days and/or reducing lunch times during those two weeks in order to work less than 10 hours.
• Use any combination of taking some of the 8 hours as remaining paid time off and working extra hours during the weeks of June 13 and June 20.
• Take Monday, June 20th as an unpaid day.
We are disappointed in how the very short notice of the Supreme Court's mandated closure impacted our court employees. In the future, the County will be discussing this issue with its employee groups on the best way to observe the Juneteenth holiday in 2023 and beyond in order to come up with the best possible solution."
Muskegon County has a different situation, though, as their court employees will be paid for the Juneteenth holiday. Vanderhyde explained that that is because once they were made aware of the rule, they sent a letter of amendment with their court personnel rules, and a letter of amendment for their court bargaining agreement to get it added to the list of the county's paid holidays.
"Then we argued with the county funding unit, saying that it's already in their budget to make this a paid holiday, because staff was going to work and going to get paid that day regardless," said Vanderhyde, "so really is budget-neutral."
In a release, the Muskegon County Courts said the following:
"As a result of this amendment, all Muskegon County district, circuit, probate, and family court hearings previously scheduled for Monday, June 20th 2022 are being adjourned and rescheduled to a later date in observance of this court holiday. Those with hearings scheduled on Monday, June 20th will receive a written notice of adjournment along with a new date and time to appear. All notices will be sent to the address previously provided to the court. All court services, including the offices of the Muskegon County Clerk and Circuit Court Records, will be closed on Monday, June 20th. However, certain county offices located within the Hall of Justice such as the Sheriff's Office, Prosecuting Attorney's Office and County Administration, will be staffed and will remain open to the public."
For Muskegon County's Juvenile Transition Center employees that also fall under the courts, they get paid time and a half for holidays. So for them, Vanderhyde explained that the county has some savings in their budget so they were still able to pay those employees based on their current approved budget.
In Kent County, it's a similar situation.
Administrator Al Vanderberg said in a statement:
"On June 1, 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court issued an Order adding Juneteenth to the list of Court holidays. The Order requires that all courts close in observance of Juneteenth.
To meet the immediate requirements of the Court Order, County Administration worked with the Chief Judges of the 17th Circuit Court, the Probate Court, and the 63rd District Court as well as Clerk/Register of Deeds Lisa Lyons, to effectuate the Court's Order by closing the courts for Juneteenth this year. For June 20, 2022, all Kent County Court employees will have a paid holiday."
The federal government recognized Juneteenth as an official federal holiday in June of 2021. So why did this new order seem so last-minute?
In October of 2021, Michigan's Supreme Court published a proposal for comment as far as also making it a state court holiday, and opened that up to hear the public's feedback. Then on May 18th, they held an administrative hearing where the public could also provide their input.
Based off of the administrative hearing and the responses they heard from the public between October and May, that's what led them to the official decision that was made on June 1.
"The Michigan Supreme Court sent a memorandum a few days after the court ruling to apologize for the short time," explained Vanderhyde, "but to also kind of explain that it had been a long process that started back in October 2021, and it just took that long with having to have that public comment period, and having to hold an administrative hearing for this to finally happen."
Vanderhyde said that not every county was able to make figure out the situation in just three weeks, but moving forward, the majority of the courts are going to try to get this added as a paid day off.
"In the long run, we all want to make this a paid holiday, to follow suit with what the federal government is doing," she explained, "and that is the intent of the Michigan Supreme Court, because they do want to acknowledge this day where justice can truly be shown for all and historically has, but I think it was just the timing that's been the toughest part."
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