Gender Discrimination Lawyer for Washtenaw County
You looked up the university’s salary list and found the male lecturer hired the same year makes more. Or the research-scientist promotion went to the man in your lab.
Or you raised the gap with your department and your appointment was cut to half-time. If the same decision would not have been made about a man, and you can name the man, you may have a case in Washtenaw County. The evaluation is a free 15-minute call, and termination cases are handled on contingency. The deadline that runs out first is Title VII’s 300-day EEOC window; the Equal Pay Act gives two years and Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Act three. I’m Warren Astbury. I take gender discrimination and retaliation cases from Ann Arbor’s university, hospitals, engineering centers, and startups, and I represent employees only.
How gender discrimination cases look in Washtenaw County
Washtenaw County’s workforce is more educated and more public than any other in Michigan, and its sex discrimination cases follow that shape.
Salary equity in the departments at U-M and Michigan Medicine
The University of Michigan sets pay department by department, and the annual salary disclosure lets a lecturer, research scientist, or clinical faculty member see exactly what the men with the same title earn. The explanation is usually “market,” “retention,” or “startup package,” and sometimes it holds. It does not hold when the woman with the same rank, the same years, and the better teaching evaluations was never made a retention offer because nobody thought she would leave. The evidence is the salary record, your appointment letters, the department’s merit letters, and any retention offer the men received.
The lab, the authorship, and the research-scientist line
Michigan Medicine and the university’s research units run on hierarchy: principal investigator, research scientist, postdoc, technician. Promotion from postdoc to research scientist, first authorship, and effort on the grant that funds the next appointment are all controlled by one person. When those go to the men in the lab and the women are told they are “better suited to the bench,” that is a sex-based employment decision, not an academic judgment beyond review. Comments and unwanted attention in the same lab are a separate claim, covered on the Washtenaw County sexual harassment page. The evidence is the effort reports, the appointment history, and the publication record of everyone in the lab.
Levels, equity grants, and the promotion committee
Toyota Motor North America R&D in York Township, Forvia in Saline, Domino’s corporate in Ann Arbor Township, and the software companies downtown place employees on level systems and promote by committee. The woman engineer is “not ready” for principal, or has a “communication style” issue, three cycles in a row. At the startups the gap hides in the equity grant, not the salary. Men bring these claims too; a man passed over because the team “needs a woman’s perspective” has the same claim. The evidence is your level history, the promotion committee’s notes, the equity grant letters, and the Slack messages that explain the decision more honestly than the review does.
The complaint, then the appointment change
At Trinity Health Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County government, Ann Arbor Public Schools, and Eastern Michigan University, the retaliation case is the one with the clearest timeline. An employee raises unequal pay or a passed-over promotion in writing. Within weeks the appointment is reduced, the contract is not renewed, or the “reorganization” removes the position. Retaliation for opposing sex discrimination is a separate claim under ELCRA and Title VII, and it does not require winning the pay claim. See fired after an HR complaint. If the reduced role followed maternity leave, the Washtenaw County pregnancy discrimination page covers that.
The law that applies
Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (MCL 37.2101) covers every employer in the county, the university and the county government included, at one or more employees. It prohibits sex-based decisions in pay, promotion, assignment, discipline, and discharge, allows three years to sue, requires no agency filing, and does not cap emotional-distress damages. Sexual orientation and gender identity were added to the statute in 2023, after the Michigan Supreme Court’s 2022 Rouch World decision had already read sexual orientation into the statute. Retaliation for opposing or reporting is at MCL 37.2701.
Title VII applies at 15 or more employees and requires an EEOC charge within 300 days at the Detroit Field Office. Compensatory and punitive damages are capped at $50K–$300K by employer size, and punitive damages are unavailable against a public employer. Since Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), sex includes sexual orientation and gender identity. For pay claims, each paycheck at the lower rate restarts the 300 days.
The federal Equal Pay Act has no headcount floor and no agency step. The comparison is to an opposite-sex employee doing substantially equal work in the same establishment, which for a university usually means the same department or unit. Once the gap is shown, the employer must prove it rests on seniority, merit, production, or a factor other than sex. Two years, three if willful, with the unpaid wages doubled for willful violations. Michigan’s Workforce Opportunity Wage Act (MCL 408.423) carries a parallel state rule.
Two Washtenaw County exceptions. Employees of the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System are federal employees and must contact an EEO counselor within 45 days. And employees of the University of Michigan face the sovereign-immunity question addressed below, which for sex discrimination is far less of a problem than most people assume.
The trap here is the academic calendar. Non-renewals arrive in spring, the appointment ends in August, and the 300 days are measured from the notice, not the last day of work. Every deadline is on the Michigan employment claim deadlines page.
| Claim | Who’s covered | Deadline | Damages |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELCRA (Michigan) | Any employer with one or more employees, including U-M and public bodies | Three years | Back pay, front pay, uncapped emotional distress, fees |
| Title VII | 15 or more employees, including state employers | EEOC charge within 300 days, then suit | Back pay; compensatory capped at $50K–$300K; no punitive against public employers |
| Equal Pay Act | Nearly every employer, including state universities in the Sixth Circuit | Two years; three if willful; no agency step | Unpaid wages, doubled if willful, fees |
| Federal-sector Title VII (VA Ann Arbor) | Federal employees | EEO counselor within 45 days | Back pay and compensatory damages, capped |
Where your Washtenaw County gender discrimination case gets filed
A case pleaded under ELCRA alone files in the Washtenaw County Trial Court, the 22nd Circuit, at 101 E. Huron Street in downtown Ann Arbor. Add a Title VII or Equal Pay Act count and the employer can remove it to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, whose main courthouse is the Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse at 231 W. Lafayette Boulevard in Detroit; the court also sits at 200 E. Liberty Street in Ann Arbor, though assignment is not by county.
For a pay case the Equal Pay Act’s liquidated damages often justify federal court. For a termination or non-renewal after a complaint, a Washtenaw jury and ELCRA’s uncapped damages usually argue for staying at 101 E. Huron. That jury is drawn from Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Saline, Chelsea, and Dexter, and it reads exhibits. The Washtenaw County employment lawyer page covers the jury pool and venue in more detail.
Suing the University of Michigan for sex discrimination: what immunity blocks and what it does not
U-M employees hear “sovereign immunity” and assume they cannot sue. For sex discrimination that is mostly wrong.
The Eleventh Amendment does bar federal money-damages claims against the university under the ADA’s employment title and the FMLA’s self-care provision. Title VII is different. Congress passed it under its Fourteenth Amendment power, and the Supreme Court held in 1976 that it reaches state employers for back pay and damages. The Sixth Circuit, which covers Michigan, has held the same for the Equal Pay Act. So a lecturer, nurse, or research scientist paid less than a male peer can bring Title VII and Equal Pay Act claims against the university for money, subject to the Title VII cap and the bar on punitive damages against public bodies.
ELCRA adds a state-law claim with no cap on emotional-distress damages and a three-year clock. Where a state-law claim against the university is filed, and whether a notice of claim is required, are procedural questions the Michigan Supreme Court has revisited recently. The practical rule is to call within the first year and let me handle the forum.
Two more things U-M workers should know. The university’s internal process through its Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office is not a substitute for an EEOC charge and does not stop the 300 days. And a non-renewal is an adverse action if the reason for it was sex or a complaint about sex discrimination, whatever the appointment letter says about term limits.
What to do in the first 72 hours
- Save the pay evidence tonight. Your appointment letters, the salary disclosure entries for you and your comparators, merit letters, the equity grant letter, and your reviews, to a personal account before your university or company access ends.
- Write down the comparators. Name, title or rank, hire year, department, and what he was paid or promoted into.
- Put the complaint in writing if it was only spoken. A dated email to your chair, HR, or the equity office saying you believe the decision was because of your sex is the protected activity a retaliation claim needs.
- Request your personnel file under Michigan’s Bullard-Plawecki Employee Right to Know Act. Public employers are covered; email the request so it is timestamped.
- Leave the severance or separation agreement unsigned. It releases every claim on this page.
- Do not resign or decline the reduced appointment to make a point. A resignation converts the case into a harder constructive-discharge claim.
Washtenaw County gender discrimination questions
I’m a lecturer at the University of Michigan paid less than male lecturers in my department. Does the university’s public salary list help my equal pay claim?
Yes, a great deal. The disclosure gives you the comparators’ names, titles, and salaries before a case is filed, which most private-sector employees never get. It does not settle the case; the university can argue seniority, merit, or a retention offer. But a documented gap among lecturers with the same rank and years shifts the burden to the university to prove a reason other than sex.
My PI at Michigan Medicine gave the male postdoc the first-author paper and the research-scientist promotion. Is that employment discrimination or an academic dispute?
It can be employment discrimination. Promotion to research scientist and the authorship that supports it are terms of employment, and a decision made because of sex violates ELCRA and Title VII no matter how academic the setting. Courts defer to academic judgment on scientific merit, so the evidence is comparative: your contributions, the effort reports, the lab’s promotion history, and what the PI said about who is “suited” to what.
I’m a physician at Trinity Health Ann Arbor and my compensation is lower than male colleagues with the same RVUs. Does the Equal Pay Act apply to productivity-based pay?
Yes. The Equal Pay Act covers all compensation, and a production-based system is only a defense if it is actually applied the same way to men and women. If your RVUs match theirs and your total compensation does not, the difference has to be explained by something other than sex. Save your RVU reports, your compensation plan, and any comparison you have seen.
I work at Toyota R&D in York Township and no woman in my group has been promoted to principal engineer in a decade. Can a pattern alone be evidence?
A pattern is evidence, though rarely the whole case. Statistics showing that qualified women are consistently not promoted support an inference that sex is a factor, and they make a subjective “not ready” explanation harder to credit. Paired with your own qualifications against the men who were promoted, the pattern becomes a strong ELCRA and Title VII claim. Discovery produces the promotion data; note the names now.
I’m a transgender employee at Eastern Michigan University and was reassigned away from student-facing work after I transitioned. Is a reassignment an adverse action?
It can be. A reassignment that reduces responsibility, visibility, or advancement prospects is an adverse action under ELCRA and Title VII even at the same pay, and a decision made because of gender identity is sex discrimination under both after Bostock and Michigan’s 2023 amendment. EMU is a public employer, so punitive damages are off the table under Title VII, but ELCRA’s uncapped damages remain. Keep the reassignment notice and any explanation.
Talk to a gender discrimination lawyer who takes Washtenaw County cases
If you were paid less than the men with your title, passed over in the department or the lab, moved into a smaller role, or not renewed after complaining, at the university, a hospital, an engineering center, or a startup in Washtenaw County, call (313) 701-2448 or schedule a free 15-minute case evaluation. I will tell you whether the comparators and the timeline support a case.
Warren Astbury. Harvard Law School, J.D. 2009. Fifteen years, more than 50 cases tried to verdict, never an employer client. Another county? See the gender discrimination pages for Wayne County, Oakland County, and Macomb County.