Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Overhaul Hits July 19: What Sterling Heights Workers Need to Know

Beginning the week of July 19, Michigan unemployment claimants must complete and report at least three work-search activities a week to keep receiving benefits — up from one activity under the previous rule. For Sterling Heights residents navigating layoffs or job changes in manufacturing, retail and service work, the higher weekly requirement is the most immediate consequence of Michigan's unemployment overhaul. File fewer than three activities for a certification week, and no benefits are paid for that week, with no grace period or warning.

The requirement is part of Public Act 238 of 2024, bipartisan legislation signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Dec. 23, 2024, after it passed the Michigan House and Senate that month. The work-search rule and Work Share revisions take effect July 19; other provisions took effect July 17.

The law also offers new help. It adds protections for domestic violence survivors who leave a job because of domestic violence and otherwise meet eligibility requirements, effective July 17. It allows related unemployment appeals to be handled in one hearing before an Administrative Law Judge rather than forcing claimants through separate hearings over issues connected to the same claim, also effective July 17. And it changes the hardship-waiver rules the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency uses when reviewing claimant applications, imposing new limits on how many additional hardship waiver applications the agency can consider after a claimant's first application.

Starting the week of July 19, Michigan's Work Share program gives employers more flexibility to reduce workers' hours while employees collect proportional partial unemployment benefits. Earlier parts of Public Act 238 extended benefits for new claims filed on or after April 2, 2025, from 20 weeks to 26 weeks and raised the maximum weekly benefit from $362 to $446 beginning Jan. 1, 2025. The law scheduled further increases to $530 in 2026 and $614 in 2027, subject to annual inflation adjustments. Michigan's maximum weekly benefit is $530 in 2026.

"Beginning the week of July 19, 2026, claimants will need to complete at least three work search activities each week to continue receiving benefits," the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, the state agency administering unemployment insurance changes under Public Act 238 of 2024, said.

The department frames the change as part of bipartisan legislation to modernize Michigan's unemployment system and encourage active job seeking. But for a Sterling Heights worker laid off after an auto slowdown, a supplier contract loss or a seasonal retail cut, the question is more basic: Can they document three qualifying activities every week while keeping up with rent, groceries and bills? For skilled machinists, tool-and-die makers and industrial electricians with credentials tied to specific employers or union seniority, there may not be three relevant openings in a given week when their field has limited postings. Older workers, parents managing child care or transportation, and people with fewer employers nearby face the same three-search minimum as claimants in job-rich areas. The rule offers no exception based on industry, age, location or family responsibilities.

Those protections for domestic violence survivors, streamlined appeals and revised hardship waivers do not erase the weekly job-search requirement. A claimant who left work because of domestic violence, is appealing a determination or is seeking a hardship waiver still must document three work-search activities each week to receive benefits.

Qualifying activities include applying for specific jobs online or in person, interviewing with employers, attending job fairs or workshops, registering with staffing agencies and using Michigan Works! services. Claimants need to keep confirmation emails or other records showing the date of contact, the employer or business name, the physical or online location, and how the contact was made.

Claimants report their work-search activities during biweekly certification through the Michigan Web Account Manager, or MiWAM. Certification is incomplete — and benefits are not paid — until those activities are reported. Michigan Works!, the state workforce development system providing reemployment services and job search assistance to unemployment claimants, offers workshops, job fairs and staffing-agency connections that can count toward the requirement. The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency has online guidance and frequently asked questions covering work-search rules, documentation and certification procedures.