Ascension Genesys Lawsuit Verdict: $10M Discrimination Award

A Genesee County jury in March 2026 delivered the Ascension Genesys lawsuit verdict of $10,034,951 to Dr. Nicole Walker, a former OB/GYN resident who was fired after failing a licensing exam the hospital required her to take while she was on maternity leave. The jury found the hospital violated Michigan discrimination laws by denying Walker the same second chances it gave non-pregnant residents who failed the same test.¹²

What Walker Was Fired Over

Walker was a second-year resident in the OB/GYN Postgraduate Residency Program at Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The program required residents to pass the COMLEX Level 3 licensing exam by the sixth month of their second postgraduate year. For Walker, that deadline landed in December 2020.¹²

COVID-19 testing restrictions kept her from sitting for the exam on her original schedule. She took it in September 2020 and did not pass. She then went on maternity leave and asked the hospital for additional time to retake the exam after her leave ended. The hospital refused, which effectively required her to prepare and sit for the test during job-protected leave.³²

Walker retook the exam in late January 2021, still on leave, and did not pass. The hospital fired her on April 16, 2021. In June 2021, once she had time to prepare, she took the COMLEX Level 3 again and passed with a score of 536, well above the required 350. She asked to be reinstated to the residency program. The hospital refused.⁴³⁵

Why the Jury Found Discrimination

The heart of Walker’s case was how the hospital treated other residents who had failed the same COMLEX Level 3 exam. According to the lawsuit, residents who were not pregnant and not on maternity leave were offered probation, remediation, or other help to pass on a later attempt. Walker was offered none of that. The disparity let the jury infer that pregnancy and maternity leave drove the firing.⁴⁶

Walker also alleged that a physician at the hospital told her she should consider other career paths because “being a mother made it difficult for her to devote time to the program.”⁴

The Verdict and Case Posture

The case was filed as No. 2023-119894-CZ in the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court for the County of Genesee and tried before Judge Mark Latchana over about two and a half weeks. Walker was represented by attorneys from Morgan & Morgan, including Michigan managing partner Michael Hanna. Ascension Genesys was represented by Jackson Lewis PC.¹⁷⁸

The jury award of $10,034,951 covered future lost earnings as a physician and pain and suffering. The public record did not break down the allocation between those categories.³¹ Ascension did not respond to press requests for comment.²

As of late March 2026, the judge had not yet entered formal judgment on the verdict, and post-trial motions or an appeal could still affect the final award. None had been publicly reported at that point.¹⁴

The Parallel Federal Case

The state verdict does not close out Walker’s litigation. She has a separate case pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Case No. 2:23-cv-10198) alleging interference with her maternity leave and retaliation under the Family and Medical Leave Act. That case was still in its pretrial phase in spring 2026.⁸⁹

A Note on the Hospital’s Ownership

Every event in the lawsuit happened while the facility was owned by Ascension. In October 2024, Henry Ford Health and Ascension Michigan completed a joint venture giving Henry Ford Health an 80% ownership and governance stake, and the facility was rebranded Henry Ford Genesys Hospital. Available reporting did not address whether Henry Ford Health bears any liability for the verdict.¹⁰¹¹

1
Nurse.org. Hospital Maternity Leave Firing 10M Verdict
2
MLive. 10M Awarded to Genesys Medical Resident Fired While on Maternity Leave
3
Fox 2 Detroit. Former Medical Resident Awarded More Than 10 Million Being Forced Take Exam Maternity Leave
4
Medscape. Former OB-GYN Resident Wins 10M Maternity Leave Lawsuit
5
ABC 12. Medical Residents Lawsuit Wins 10 Million From Genesys Hospital
6
Nevada Association of Employers. Disparate Treatment Claims What Employers Can Learn From a 10 Million Verdict
7
Morgan & Morgan. Michael Hanna
8
Expert Institute. 10M Residency Leave Discrimination Verdict
9
CourtListener. Walker v. Ascension Genesys Hospital
10
Michigan Public. What Patients Should Know About Henry Ford Ascension Hospitals Joint Venture
11
ABC 12. Ascension Genesys Hospital Officially Under New Ownership