Total Articles: 12
Supervisor's Inadvisable Email Creates Basis for FMLA Claim
File this in your "Don't Do This When Conducting a RIF" folder. As highlighted by the folks at the Atlanta Employment Lawyer Blog, employers should be wary of eliminating the position of an employee who announces days earlier that he will need several weeks off for surgery. When the evidence shows that this employee was not targeted for the layoff before he requested FMLA leave, but only after, it may well be enough to allow him to present his claims to a jury.
Supervisor's ill-considered e-mail forms the basis of an FMLA lawsuit.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) prohibits employers from interfering with an employee’s right to take leave for which that employee is eligible under the Act. Recently, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the dismissal of an employee’s FMLA lawsuit, and sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings.
PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF! Good lessons for employers from AMA case
It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others. In any event, that must be what the American Medical Association is thinking. The organization took it on the chin this week in a case involving the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Court Decides Not Returning Employee’s Calls is Sufficient for FMLA Retaliation Claim to Proceed
A federal court in Pennsylvania has found an assistant manager’s failure to return an employee’s calls while the employee was out on Family and Medical Leave Act leave was sufficiently antagonistic to support a prima facie case of retaliation under the FMLA. Hofferica v. St. Mary Med. Ctr., No. 10-6026 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 20, 2011). Accordingly, the court denied the employer’s motion to dismiss the claim.
Happy Father's Day: Dad Claims He Was Terminated After Taking FMLA Leave for Bonding with Newborn Child
As a father of three, I tend to take interest in "feel good" stories about working parents. However, in a recent ABA Journal article, an article about a working dad caught my attention for a far different reason. The article highlighted Ariel Ayanna, who recently filed suit against his employer claiming he was terminated after taking FMLA leave following the birth of his son. Ayanna v. Dechert LLP (pdf).
Scared of Liability for FMLA Retaliation? Beware of Bingo Workers!
Employers increasingly are finding federal courts to be receptive forums for the consideration of an employee’s retaliation claim. In Burlington Northern v. White, for instance, the Supreme Court held that an employer can retaliate within the meaning of Title VII with actions short of terminations and other ultimate employment actions. Last year, in Crawford v. Metro Government of Nashville, the Court ruled that an employee who was terminated after she answered questions during an employer’s internal investigation was protected under the anti-retaliatory provisions of Title VII.
Termination for Poor Performance Discussed Prior to FMLA Leave Does Not Support Retaliation Claim.
The Family and Medical Leave Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees who have taken leave under that Act. However, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed summary judgment in favor of an employer who terminated an individual for excessive absenteeism and performance issues that developed prior to that employee’s request for FMLA leave, even though her termination occurred during that protected leave.
FMLA Allows An Employer To Base Termination On Performance Problems Discovered During An Employee’s Leave.
The Family and Medical Leave Act allows individuals to take unpaid leave from work and requires that in most cases, such individuals be returned to their prior position or an equivalent one upon return from the leave. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has clarified that requirement, and has held that when an employer discovers information during an employee’s FMLA leave that would otherwise form the basis of a valid termination, the FMLA does not act as a bar to such adverse employment action.
FMLA Does Not Support Retaliation Claims By Employee Who Did Not Actively Participate In Spouse's Previous FMLA Lawsuit.
The Family and Medical Leave Act allows employees to take reasonable leave for certain reasons spelled out in that Act. The FMLA includes prescriptive provisions – which create a series of substantive rights, consisting primarily of 12 weeks of unpaid leave – along with proscriptive provisions, which bar employers from penalizing employees and other individuals from exercising rights granted under the FMLA. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently addressed the issue of whether the anti-retaliation provisions of the FMLA automatically protect the co-worker/spouse of an employee from retaliation, and held that it does not.
Federal Court in Arizona Finds Paid Leave Retaliatory under FMLA.
In the first case expanding the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Burlington Northern v. White (2006) (addressing what constitutes an adverse employment action under Title VII) to a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) case, a court in Arizona held that putting an employee on an involuntary paid leave was an adverse employment action in retaliation for requesting additional FMLA leave. See Foraker v. Apollo Group, Inc. (D. Ariz. 2006). The Arizona court stated that a reasonable employee likely would find such an administrative leave to be "materially adverse" as required by Burlington. The court held that the elimination of all job responsibilities, all contact with co-workers, all experience and education that would come from fulfilling one's job responsibilities, and all periodic performance reviews for an indefinite period of at least 12 months "well might have dissuaded a reasonable worker" from requesting FMLA leave.
Fired Employee's FMLA Suit Rejected (pdf).
Fired one day after FMLA leave expired.
Termination Justified In FMLA Leave Case (pdf).
The federal appellate court with jurisdiction
over Arizona employers recently
dismissed a lawsuit brought
by an employee who claimed that he
was terminated shortly after requesting
leave under the Family and Medical
Leave Act (FMLA). According to
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,
the trial judge correctly concluded
that the employee’s request for medical
leave was not a factor in the termination
decision and that rather he
was fired for swearing and threatening
his supervisor.
