There are two big changes for Michigan companies in 2020 that you may not yet have on your radar screen…
The first is the impact of REAL ID.
And the second is the overhaul of Michigan’s civil court litigation rules.
Notice I didn’t mention the legalization of the recreational of marijuana, nor did I single out the sweeping changes to no‑fault auto insurance, nor the changes for Medicaid eligibility. That’s not because those (and many other) changes are inconsequential for your business. It’s just that REAL ID and the court rules are where I see significant risk for small‑to‑mid‑ sized businesses simply because those changes aren’t in the headlines.
REAL ID – Starting October 1, 2020, your workers will need a driver’s license or State ID that complies with REAL ID in order to be able to fly or to enter a federally-controlled work site.
The impact of REAL ID goes beyond your employees’ personal lives regarding vacation travel, check cashing, buying alcohol or renting cars.
If your company occasionally flies your regional sales manager to customer’s sites to drum up orders? If your equipment needs what seems like a simple service call for a reset and software upgrade, but that site happens to be a post office or international airport? Well, then, you had better ensure your field sales and support folks have a REAL ID compliant drivers’ license/State ID. This somewhat ties in with ensuring your I‑9’s house is in good order.
Here’s the rub: getting a REAL ID costs your employees money that they might not want to otherwise spend for their personal needs. A simple change to your reimbursement policy will solve this. Just like steel‑toed boots or carbon‑impact lens, consider adding the $30‑$50 cost of getting a raised embossed certified copy of a birth certificate, necessary for getting that REAL ID, to the list of reimbursable employee costs. Same for the cost of renewing a soon‑to‑be expired passport. That less than $100 cost will make sure your tech doesn’t have an excuse for not being able to service your customers.
Civil Litigation Court Rules – Both paper and non-paper records have always been key in lawsuits, but it took until just now for the state court litigation rules to be adapted to formally oversee the digital search for the binary needle in the proverbial haystack. To quote from the source: “the Michigan Civil Discovery Court Rule Review Committee envisioned a system in which civil litigation is more cost effective; courts are more accessible and affordable; the rules aid case management and judicial efficiency; and cooperation and reasonableness are emphasized as key principles to parties and lawyers.”
Don’t be lulled in to a false sense of complacency: e-discovery has exponentially increased both the cost and complexity of litigation. Michigan’s court rule changes merely give the judge teeth for slapping down some of the eye-roll inducing lame excuses they’ve seen, but it does nothing to absolve your company from being digitally fluent.
The changes to Michigan’s civil discovery rules are huge regardless of whether you think your company is David or Goliath.