Shelton - FMLA - Group 2 - #5
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Major Assignment Project – Group 2
Family Medical Leave Act
Marquise Shelton
Question 5: Identify recent legal cases and the outcome related to such topics
Case 1: Massachusetts Water Authority vs Employee – FMLA Case
The employee was fired for taking FMLA, returning to work, and then stating he would take FMLA again. The employer was said to retaliate against the worker and let him go. He had taken off work for 4-6 weeks to have a tumor removed in his foot. The employee tried to return to work early to prevent using all his PTO and the request was rejected. When his early return was rejected, he decided to take a planned vacation (previously planned a year prior). He also informed his employer he would need FMLA for knee surgery. The employer felt that it was a FMLA violation to vacation while on leave and fired him. a)
The employee experienced emotional distress while working for a company for years. He was willing to return to work and was denied the opportunity. In the end – it worked out in his favor to be on FMLA and have this company retaliate on him because he was awarded $1,332,000 by the jury and won his case in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. b)
The organization had to take a major hit financially by assuming that vacationing was a FMLA violation. Not only did it take a toll on them financially, but that also ruins their reputation of how they treat their employees. The organization did not have reasonable cause to let the employee go. c)
The media interprets cases like this one as very unethical on the employer. It was clear the employee was communicating well and had all the documents to prove the time off
requested. The employee was not trying to take advantage of his situation and even offered to return to work prior to the FMLA deadline. People cannot control what will happen in their life or family’s life. It is important to have benefits and programs like FMLA available in times of emergency for this reason. An employee should not have to worry about if they will
still have a job while taking care of their health or loved ones. This employer will forever have this reputation and I am sure it makes prospective employees hesitant to work for a company with this type of behavior. Case 2: Employer (Airline) vs Employee – FMLA Case
The names were changed to protect the privacy of the employee, but the employee was abusing the rights provided by his company – an airline. As an employee of this airline, certain family members can join on the company travel privileges. During a random audit, this employee came up and his travel log with family members was pulled and they noticed some violations. They tried to conduct an interview with the employee, but he was out on FMLA due to kidney failure. When the employee returned to work, they then conducted the interview and he was in fact, guilty of abusing the company privileges and let go. He filed suit but lost due to the employer having proof of their decision. a)
In this case, there was no impact to the employee, in my opinion, other than losing his job which had nothing to do with the company’s FMLA policy or his health reason. He tried to retaliate for being let go and bring up something that could not be proven in court, and it did not go in his favor. b)
The organization had to waste time fighting a battle that should not have been taken to court but overall, they managed to win their case. Employers must ensure they have solid reason for action and keep record of violations when possibly going up against a case like this.
c)
I believe that the media would interpret this case as a fair case once the facts were provided. There is no way this case could have been tried as a FMLA case when the proof of termination was due to employee being unethical and taking advantage of company privilege. Sources: https://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/63014/3-recent-fmla-lawsuits-that-employers-need-to-be-
familiar-with/
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/employer-
makes-million-dollar-fmla-mistake.aspx
https://www.jjkeller.com/learn/news/022019/Employer-wins-FMLA-retaliation-case
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