• In Michigan, a woman cannot be discriminated against in the workplace for being pregnant.mother and baby drinking breast-milk image by hans slegers from Fotolia.com
  
  In Michigan, there are no specific state laws on the books regarding maternity leave for working women, though there are protections for pregnant woman and their jobs under Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Additionally, all women who are citizens of the United States and meet the requirements of the National Family and Medical Leave Act have certain protections under federal law.
  
  

Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act

• The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act is Michigan's adaptation of the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act's Title VII amendment, and it includes protection for pregnant women against discrimination in the workplace as well as more general discrimination based on sex. An employer must treat a pregnant woman like any other employee, and cannot use a woman's pregnancy as grounds for firing her.
  
  

Pregnancy Discrimination Act

• In addition to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, women in Michigan are also protected under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act--an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Pregnancy is considered a short-term disability and is to be treated by an employer without bias as any other short-term disability. Furthermore, an employer cannot refuse to hire a woman just because she is pregnant. An employer also cannot prevent a woman from coming back to work after a pregnancy. Health insurance given by an employer must cover the costs of the pregnancy equal to what is being paid to employees with other health conditions. Pregnant women need not be married for these rules to apply.
  
  

Family and Medical Leave Act

• In 1993, U.S. legislators passed the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law that protects full-time employees who meet specific requirements from losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the workplace in the event of a family situation or medical condition. Pregnancy is included in this law: covered employees qualify for 12 weeks of unpaid absence related to pregnancy, and their health benefits must be maintained. The employee must get her original job back and wages may not be reduced after she comes back from an FMLA-covered leave of absence.
  
  Employees are covered by the FMLA if they have worked for their employer for 12 months, have worked 1,250 hours over the course of the previous 12 months and work at a workplace in the U.S. or a U.S. territory with at least 50 workers who are employed by said employer within 75 miles.