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It is decidedly illegal for a Michigan employer to discriminate against an employee or job applicant based on pregnancy. Federal and state civil rights laws provide the safety net, but the application of these employment discrimination laws, as well as the rather strict procedures claimants must follow to enforce them, is complex.
Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, among other things, forbids employment discrimination based on pregnancy. Pregnancy discrimination falls under the category of discrimination based on sex, and includes pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. This law applies to employers with at least one employee.
At the federal level, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act or PDA also makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The federal pregnancy discrimination ban is also based on the prohibition of discrimination based on sex or gender. However, in contrast to the wider sweep of Michigan state law, the federal ban only applies to larger employers with at least 15 employees.
In some situations, a pregnant woman’s medical condition may also be covered by anti-discrimination provisions of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA that may require an employer to provide reasonable accommodations in the workplace to an employee with a disability, so long as the accommodation does not create undue hardship on the employer. A pregnant woman’s medical condition and resulting need for a medical leave may also be covered under the Family Medical Leave Act or FMLA, which may require that the employer allow the employee to take an unpaid medical leave for up to 12 weeks, with the right to return to her position or a substantially similar one.
Currently, a legal debate is raging at the federal level about whether ADA-like reasonable accommodations are legally required to allow pregnant women to continue to work.
The National Law Review has published an interesting article that explains in detail this unusual situation in which a federal agency has decided on its interpretation of an important issue pending before the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, any pregnant woman in Michigan concerned about negative treatment at work or in response to a job application should speak with a skilled employment law attorney as soon as possible about potential rights and remedies.
