Detroit Employment Lawyer for Employees Only
You worked for one of the biggest employers in Michigan, and it fired you anyway. Whether that was a hospital in New Center, a plant on the east side, a bank tower downtown, or the City of Detroit itself, the question is the same: was the reason they gave the real one?
I’m Warren Astbury. I’m a Detroit employment lawyer who represents employees and never employers, and the case evaluation is a free 15-minute call. Termination cases are handled on contingency. Michigan is an at-will state and most firings are legal; what makes one unlawful is a protected reason, a protected complaint, or a protected leave, plus the evidence to prove it. The deadline that closes first is the EEOC’s 300 days for federal claims. The Wayne County employment lawyer page covers the whole county; this page is about the city.
How employment cases look in Detroit
Detroit’s workforce is concentrated in a handful of very large employers, each with in-house counsel and a defense firm on retainer. The cases are well documented and well defended. That cuts both ways: the paper that convicts an employer is usually already in its own systems.
The hospital systems: Henry Ford and the DMC
Henry Ford Hospital in New Center and the Detroit Medical Center campuses, including Detroit Receiving, Harper, Children’s, and Sinai-Grace, employ tens of thousands of nurses, techs, aides, and support staff. The cases that come out of them follow patterns: a nurse fired for a “documentation” issue three weeks after returning from FMLA leave; a tech whose pregnancy restriction became “we have nothing for you”; a patient-care aide written up for tone after reporting a charge nurse’s comments. Hospital HR systems keep every review, every schedule, and every incident report. The evidence is there; the question is who gets to it first. The FMLA retaliation, pregnancy discrimination, and disability discrimination pages for Wayne County go deeper on each, and harassment by a coworker, supervisor, or patient is its own claim, covered on the Wayne County sexual harassment page.
The plants: Stellantis on the east side and GM downtown
The Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex, Mack and Jefferson North, is the largest manufacturing employer inside the city limits, and GM’s headquarters and engineering staff sit downtown. Hourly workers are UAW-represented; salaried workers are not. The hourly cases are about attendance points, discipline that lands harder on one worker than another for the same conduct, and medical holds that follow a restriction. The salaried cases are about buyouts, “restructurings” that skew old, and the rating that fell after a complaint. A grievance enforces the contract; it does not stop the 300-day EEOC clock or the three-year Michigan clock, and it does not replace the lawsuit. See age discrimination and race discrimination in Wayne County.
Downtown: Rocket, the banks, Blue Cross, DTE, and the Ilitch companies
Rocket Companies, Ally, Huntington, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, DTE Energy, Little Caesars and the Ilitch organization, and the law and consulting firms around Campus Martius run on ratings, calibration meetings, and bonus pools. The case is the rating that dropped the cycle after an HR complaint, the promotion that went to someone less qualified, the pay band nobody could explain. Discovery reaches the calibration spreadsheets. See gender discrimination in Wayne County for the pay and promotion patterns. If the fight is a non-compete the company is waving after you left, that is a separate practice and a separate page.
The casinos
MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity, and Hollywood Casino at Greektown employ thousands of dealers, servers, security, and hospitality staff, many of them union-represented. Casino cases bring a wrinkle: most employees hold an occupational license from the Michigan Gaming Control Board, and a termination can raise licensing questions. Get advice before responding to the Board or signing anything the casino hands you.
The public payroll: the City of Detroit, DPSCD, and Wayne State
The City of Detroit, the Detroit Public Schools Community District, Wayne State University, Wayne County government, and DDOT are among the largest employers in the city. Public employees have everything private employees have, plus the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act for reports to a public body, a First Amendment retaliation claim for speech on matters of public concern, and, for some, civil-service and collective-bargaining protections that create their own record. The trap is the 90-day WPA deadline, the shortest in Michigan employment law.
The law that applies
The statutes that reach a Detroit employer are the same ones that reach every Michigan employer. What changes is which one carries the case.
Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act covers race, sex, age, religion, national origin, height, weight, familial status, marital status, and, since 2023, sexual orientation and gender identity, at employers with one or more employees. Three years to sue, no agency filing, no cap on emotional-distress damages, and retaliation for opposing or reporting is a separate violation. The Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act does the same for disability, with a written-request rule for accommodations. Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA are the federal counterparts; they start at 15 or 20 employees, require an EEOC charge within 300 days at the Detroit Field Office on Michigan Avenue, and cap or limit damages. The FMLA gives eligible employees at employers with 50 or more workers 12 weeks of protected leave and two years, three if willful, to sue for interference or retaliation. Section 1981 reaches race discrimination at any employer with a four-year deadline and no cap. The WPA protects reports to a government agency, with 90 days to file.
| Claim | Who’s covered | Deadline | Where it starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELCRA / PWDCRA (Michigan) | Employers with 1+ employees | 3 years | Wayne County Circuit Court, no agency step |
| Title VII / ADA / ADEA (federal) | 15+ employees (ADEA 20+) | EEOC charge within 300 days | EEOC Detroit Field Office, 477 Michigan Ave |
| FMLA | 50+ employees within 75 miles; 12 months and 1,250 hours | 2 years, 3 if willful | Court directly |
| Whistleblowers’ Protection Act | Reports to a public body | 90 days | Wayne County Circuit Court |
Every clock is on the Michigan employment claim deadlines page. If you’re weighing a severance offer, read Michigan severance agreements explained before you sign; the release inside it covers every claim in this table.
Where your Detroit case gets filed
Michigan-law claims file in the Wayne County Circuit Court, Civil Division, at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Avenue, across from Hart Plaza. Not the 36th District Court next door; that court handles smaller civil matters and does not hear these cases. Federal claims file in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse, 231 W. Lafayette Boulevard, four blocks west, after the EEOC issues a right-to-sue letter. Charges are filed at the EEOC’s Detroit Field Office in the McNamara Federal Building at 477 Michigan Avenue, or with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights at Cadillac Place in New Center.
The choice between the two courthouses is strategic. A complaint that pleads only Michigan claims generally stays at 2 Woodward in front of a Wayne County jury, with no damages cap. Add a federal count and the employer can remove the case to Lafayette Boulevard, where summary judgment arrives sooner. Which is right depends on the claim and the evidence, and it is the first decision I make with a new file.
Working in a suburb instead? The Dearborn, Livonia, Westland, and Canton pages cover the rest of Wayne County, and the Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw hubs cover the region.
The Detroit jury, and why defense lawyers price it in
Wayne County juries are drawn from the whole county, not the city alone, but Detroit residents make up a large share of the pool, and the pool has a reputation among employment-defense lawyers: it listens to workers, it understands what an attendance-points system and a “last chance agreement” are, and it does not assume that a large employer’s paperwork is the truth. That reputation shows up in settlement posture before a jury is ever seated.
Two consequences for your case. First, keeping the case in state court is worth more here than in most Michigan counties, which is one reason a Detroit complaint is often pleaded under Michigan law alone. Second, the employer’s lawyers know the same thing, so the documented, comparator-driven case that would be a coin flip elsewhere tends to resolve earlier and better here. None of that replaces evidence. It changes what the evidence is worth.
What to do in the first 72 hours
- Forward yourself the record tonight. Reviews, the write-ups, the schedule, the complaint you made and HR’s reply, the termination letter, and any text or Teams message that matters, to a personal account before your login is disabled.
- Write down the comparators. The coworker who did the same thing and kept the job, the person who got the promotion, the replacement’s approximate age or background, with names and dates.
- Request your personnel file in writing. Michigan’s Bullard-Plawecki Employee Right to Know Act requires the employer to let you review and copy it, and the file shows whether the “performance problem” existed before your complaint or your leave.
- Put the complaint in writing if it was only spoken. A dated email saying you believe the treatment was because of a protected trait or a protected complaint is what makes the retaliation claim provable.
- Do not sign the severance in the meeting. The consideration period exists to be used; the release is what the employer is buying.
- Do not resign to make it stop. A resignation turns a termination case into a harder constructive-discharge case and can cost you unemployment.
Detroit employment questions
I work for the City of Detroit. Do I have to go through the Civil Service Commission before I can sue?
Not for a discrimination or retaliation claim. Civil-service and union procedures enforce the city’s own rules and your contract, and they are worth using because they create a record. They do not replace ELCRA, Title VII, the WPA, or a First Amendment claim, and they do not pause those deadlines. The WPA’s 90-day clock in particular does not wait for a hearing.
I was fired from a Detroit casino and the Michigan Gaming Control Board wants a statement. What should I do?
Talk to a lawyer before you respond. Casino employees hold occupational licenses from the Board, and a termination can raise licensing questions that run separately from any discrimination or retaliation claim against the casino. What you say to the Board can be used in both. The employment claim itself follows the ordinary rules: 300 days for the EEOC charge, three years under Michigan law.
Is a Detroit employment case filed in the 36th District Court?
No. The 36th District Court hears smaller civil claims, traffic, and misdemeanors. Employment discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful-discharge cases under Michigan law file in the Wayne County Circuit Court at 2 Woodward Avenue, and federal claims file in the Eastern District of Michigan on Lafayette Boulevard. Both are downtown, a few blocks apart.
Where do we meet? Your address is downtown.
The firm’s address is 607 Shelby Street downtown, and the case evaluation is a 15-minute phone or video call, which is how nearly every new client starts. Most of the work in an employment case is done by phone, email, and video, and depositions and hearings happen at the courthouses and law offices downtown. If an in-person meeting makes sense for your case, we arrange one.
My Detroit employer has fewer than 15 employees. Do I still have a claim?
Often, yes. Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA do not apply below 15 (or 20) employees, but Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Act and Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act cover employers with a single employee, with a three-year deadline and no damages cap. Section 1981 covers race discrimination at any size. A small-shop case in Detroit is usually pleaded under Michigan law and heard at 2 Woodward.
Talk to a Detroit employment lawyer who represents employees only
If you were fired, demoted, or pushed out by a Detroit employer and the reason does not add up, call (313) 701-2448 or schedule a free 15-minute case evaluation. I will tell you whether you have a case, which statute carries it, and which deadline is closest.
Warren Astbury. Harvard Law School, J.D. 2009. More than 50 cases tried to verdict over 15 years, all for employees. I do not represent employers. Read about the firm, see case results, or browse the FAQ.