Michigan Justices Say ELCRA Case Venue Proper in County Where Action ‘Implemented’

In cases under Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, venue is proper in the jurisdiction where the allegedly discriminatory decision or action was fully implemented, a 4-3 Michigan Supreme Court held July 30, overruling a lower court (Brightwell v. Fifth Third Bank of Mich.).

The decision comes in a pair of discriminatory discharge cases. In such cases, “it is the severance of the employment relationship that constitutes the actual discharge,” when the employee is physically cut off from the workplace, “not the mere communication of an adverse employment decision,” which is just a step in the discharge process, the ...