Effective March 31, 2024, Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act’s definition of sex, as a protected class, will be amended to include protections against discrimination based on pregnancy termination. Specifically, employers will be prohibited from discriminating in the workplace (hiring, firing, benefits, etc.) based on an individual’s sex, which will include pregnancy, childbirth, the termination of a pregnancy, or a related medical condition.
Previously, the law defined sex as including, pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth that did not include nontherapeutic abortion (pregnancy termination not intended to save the life of the mother).
(MI SB 147 was signed by the governor on May 17, 2023)