Disability Discrimination Lawyer for Washtenaw County
You asked Michigan Medicine, Trinity Health, Toyota, or a downtown Ann Arbor employer for an accommodation, and the response was silence, a form denial, or unpaid leave you never requested. Then the job was gone.
In Washtenaw County that can be a disability discrimination case under the ADA and Michigan’s PWDCRA, and for University of Michigan employees the analysis has a twist most websites miss. The case evaluation is a free 15-minute call, and termination cases are on contingency. The first deadline to check is Michigan’s: your accommodation request must have been in writing within 182 days of when you knew you needed it, or the PWDCRA duty never attached. The ADA accommodation and retaliation page covers the statewide rules. This page covers how they apply in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Saline, and the rest of the county.
How disability discrimination cases look in Washtenaw County
Washtenaw County has one employer that dwarfs the rest, two large health systems, a second university, and an engineering and corporate layer to the south and east. The disability cases track that map.
Clinical staff at Michigan Medicine and Trinity Health Ann Arbor
A nurse, medical assistant, or respiratory therapist at Michigan Medicine or Trinity Health Ann Arbor asks to limit patient lifting for six months, or to move off twelve-hour shifts after a cardiac or autoimmune diagnosis. The unit manager says the unit cannot spare the position and HR places the employee on unpaid leave, sometimes while a transitional-duty program for work injuries runs down the hall. Forcing leave when a workable accommodation exists is a failure to accommodate. Evidence: the request, the leave letter, the transitional-duty policy, and the postings for open positions across the system during your leave.
Faculty, researchers, and staff at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University
Research scientists, lecturers, lab managers, IT staff, and administrators at U-M and EMU disclose ADHD, depression, long COVID, or a chronic illness and ask for flexible hours, remote days, or a reduced teaching load. The response is that the accommodation would be “unfair to colleagues,” and the next contract is not renewed. Non-renewal can be an adverse action when the reason is the request. Evidence: the accommodation request to the university’s disability office or supervisor, the written denial, comparable renewals for others, and the timeline from disclosure to decision.
Engineers and plant workers at Toyota R&D, Forvia, and Ford Rawsonville
Toyota Motor North America R&D in Ann Arbor and York Township, Forvia in Saline, and Ford’s Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti Township employ engineers, technicians, and line workers whose jobs mix desk work with labs, test cells, and the floor. A back or shoulder restriction meets “the role requires hands-on time,” with no discussion of how much or whether it could be arranged differently. Evidence: the real distribution of your hours, the job description as written, and whether any alternative was proposed before the denial.
Corporate, restaurant, and tech jobs in Ann Arbor
Domino’s headquarters in Ann Arbor Township, Zingerman’s businesses, and the downtown software companies produce a different case: the employee discloses a mental-health condition or a chronic illness and asks for schedule predictability or a modified workload, and the employer’s response is “we need people who can handle the pace.” That statement is the case. Evidence: the request, the response in Slack or email, the workload data, and the reviews before and after the disclosure.
The law that applies
The Americans with Disabilities Act covers Washtenaw County private employers with 15 or more employees, requires an EEOC charge within 300 days at the Detroit Field Office, and caps compensatory and punitive damages at $50K–$300K by employer size. Michigan’s Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act, MCL 37.1101, covers employers of any size, including the state and its universities, requires no charge, allows three years to sue, and has no cap. Federal employees at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System are under the Rehabilitation Act instead, with a 45-day deadline to contact an EEO counselor.
The PWDCRA’s condition is the one Washtenaw professionals miss because they handled things collegially. MCL 37.1210(18) says the employer’s state-law duty to accommodate arises only when you notify it in writing of the need within 182 days after you knew or reasonably should have known you needed the accommodation. A conversation with your chair, a note to your charge nurse, or a mention in a one-on-one is not enough. An email is. If you never sent one and the window is open, send it now; if it is closed, the ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims do not have this requirement.
The rest of the toolkit: the ADA’s “regarded as” prong protects you from an employer that treats you as impaired; medical inquiries of current employees must be job-related and consistent with business necessity, so the employer cannot demand your psychiatric records; leave of a defined length can be a reasonable accommodation after FMLA is exhausted; reassignment to a vacant position is the ADA’s last-resort accommodation; and the employer may not force you onto leave when a different accommodation would let you keep working. Retaliation for the request is a separate claim under both statutes, and often the stronger one.
| Claim | Who’s covered | Deadline | Damages |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADA, Title I | Private employers with 15+ employees; state universities for injunctive relief only (see below) | EEOC charge within 300 days | Back pay, front pay, compensatory and punitive capped $50K–$300K; fees |
| PWDCRA, MCL 37.1101 | 1+ employees, including U-M, EMU, and county government | Written notice within 182 days; suit within 3 years | Back pay, front pay, uncapped emotional distress; fees |
| Rehabilitation Act, Sections 501 and 504 | Federal employees (VA Ann Arbor); recipients of federal funds | Federal employees: EEO counselor within 45 days | Compensatory damages capped at $300K for federal employees; fees; no punitive |
| FMLA (own condition) | 50+ employees within 75 miles; public employers regardless of size | 2 years, 3 if willful | Lost wages, liquidated damages, fees |
All of it is on one page at Michigan employment claim deadlines.
Where your Washtenaw County disability discrimination case gets filed
State claims file in the Washtenaw County Trial Court, the 22nd Circuit, at 101 E. Huron Street in Ann Arbor. Federal ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims file in the Eastern District of Michigan; the court’s main courthouse is the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse in Detroit, and it also sits in Ann Arbor at 200 E. Liberty Street, though assignment is not by county.
For most Washtenaw private-sector employees, the choice follows the theory: PWDCRA alone in the Trial Court when the case is retaliation and the cap matters; an ADA count added when reassignment or “regarded as” is central and worth the risk of removal to federal court. For U-M and EMU employees, the choice is made for you, as the next section explains. The Washtenaw County employment lawyer page describes the Huron Street jury pool, which is among the most educated in the state and reads the exhibits.
Whether you worked at the medical campus, downtown, or in Pittsfield Township, the Ann Arbor employment lawyer page covers the city itself; this page covers the county.
University of Michigan employees: why the ADA money-damages route is closed and what remains
The University of Michigan is an arm of the State of Michigan. Under the Eleventh Amendment, as the Supreme Court read it in 2001, state employees cannot recover money damages from the state under Title I of the ADA. The same immunity bars FMLA damages for your own serious health condition against the university, though not for leave taken to care for a family member. So an ADA back-pay claim against U-M or Michigan Medicine is generally dead on arrival, and an accommodation lawyer who does not tell you that is not paying attention.
What is left is more than people expect. First, the PWDCRA. Michigan’s statute names the state and its agencies as covered employers, and it is enforced in the Washtenaw County Trial Court with the three-year limitations period and no damages cap. For a U-M employee, the state claim is not a fallback; it is the main claim. Second, the ADA still supports a suit for injunctive relief, such as reinstatement or an order to accommodate, against university officials in their official capacity. Third, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act applies to programs receiving federal funds, and U-M receives a great deal of them; courts have generally allowed money-damage claims against state universities under Section 504 because acceptance of the funds waives immunity. That claim runs on the same substantive standards as the ADA.
Two practical consequences. The PWDCRA’s written-notice-within-182-days rule becomes essential for university employees, because the state claim is doing the heavy lifting; the university’s accommodation portal and an email to a supervisor both count, so use them. And university grievance and appeal procedures, including union grievances for represented staff, do not pause any of these deadlines. EMU employees are in the same position. Washtenaw County government and Ann Arbor Public Schools employees are not: political subdivisions do not share the state’s Eleventh Amendment immunity, and the ADA applies to them in full.
What to do in the first 72 hours
Related reading: accommodation denied, now fired, and fired after asking for FMLA leave if leave was part of your story.
- Write the request down and send it. Email your supervisor and HR, or use the university’s accommodation portal, stating the limitation and what you need; this is the written notice MCL 37.1210(18) requires and the date the ADA interactive process begins.
- Move your evidence to a personal account before access ends. The request, the denial, the leave letter, the reviews, the messages from your manager or chair, and the contract or appointment letter.
- Request your personnel file under Bullard-Plawecki. The Employee Right to Know Act applies to public and private employers alike; send the request in writing and keep the sent copy.
- Get a functional letter from your treating provider. It should state the limitation, its duration, and the accommodation that addresses it, nothing more; that is all the employer is entitled to.
- Do not sign the separation agreement. Its release covers the PWDCRA, ADA, and Rehabilitation Act claims, and the review period is long enough to have it read.
- Do not resign or accept a non-renewal quietly. Ask in writing why the appointment was not renewed; a resignation or an unquestioned lapse is much harder to litigate than a termination.
Washtenaw County disability discrimination questions
I work for the University of Michigan. Can I sue under the ADA for disability discrimination?
Not for money damages. The university is an arm of the state, and the Eleventh Amendment bars ADA Title I damage claims against it. You can seek reinstatement or an accommodation order under the ADA, and you can sue for damages under Michigan’s PWDCRA in the Washtenaw County Trial Court and often under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The state claim is usually the centerpiece.
I am an employee of the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. Is the ADA my route?
No. Federal employees are covered by the Rehabilitation Act, which uses the ADA’s standards but a different process. You must contact the VA’s EEO counselor within 45 days of the denial or adverse action, then proceed through the agency complaint process before any lawsuit. Michigan’s PWDCRA does not apply to the federal government. If you are inside the 45 days, make contact today and confirm it in writing.
My Ann Arbor tech employer said anxiety “isn’t a real disability” and denied my accommodation. Are they right?
No. Since the 2008 amendments, the ADA’s definition of disability is read broadly, and anxiety, depression, PTSD, and ADHD qualify when they substantially limit a major life activity such as concentrating, sleeping, or interacting with others, considered without medication. Michigan’s PWDCRA covers determinable mental characteristics as well. A denial based on doubting the diagnosis, rather than on undue hardship, is evidence of discrimination.
My Washtenaw County employer already knew about my condition. Do I still have to give written notice under the PWDCRA?
Yes. Knowledge of a diagnosis is not notice of a need for accommodation, and MCL 37.1210(18) requires written notice within 182 days of when you knew you needed one. An employer that watched you struggle is not the same as one that received your request. Send the email now if you have not, and keep proof of delivery. For the federal ADA claim, knowledge plus a request in any form is enough.
My Trinity Health manager put me on unpaid leave instead of adjusting my duties. Is forced leave an accommodation?
Not when another accommodation would let you keep working. Leave is one possible accommodation, but an employer that jumps to unpaid leave without considering a schedule change, a lifting aid, or a temporary reassignment has not engaged in the interactive process. Ask in writing what alternatives were considered and why they were rejected. The written answer, or the absence of one, becomes the evidence.
Talk to a disability discrimination lawyer who takes Washtenaw County cases
If a Washtenaw County employer denied your accommodation, put you on leave you did not ask for, or let your appointment lapse after you disclosed a condition, call (313) 701-2448 or request a free 15-minute case evaluation. Tell me if you are a U-M, EMU, or VA employee at the start; it changes the analysis, and I want to give you the right answer.
Warren Astbury, Harvard Law School, J.D. 2009. Fifteen years on the employee side, never the employer’s, and more than 50 jury trials to verdict.
The other three counties I cover have their own disability pages: Wayne County, Oakland County, and Macomb County.