Michigan Issues Executive Order Implementing COVID-19 Job Leave Protections

On April 3, 2020, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued Executive Order 2020-36, which, effectively immediately, prohibits Michigan employers from discharging, disciplining or otherwise retaliating against an employee who misses work for certain specified periods of time because he or she: (i) has tested positive for COVID-19; and/or (ii) is in "close contact" with either an individual who tests positive for COVID-19 or with an individual who displays one or more of the principal symptoms of COVID-19 ("Covered Employees"). "Close contact" is defined to mean "being within approximately six feet of an individual for a prolonged period of time," and "principal symptoms" of COVID-19 include fever, atypical cough or atypical shortness of breath.