Employer policies can impact an employee’s Family Medical Leave (FMLA) eligibility. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed summary judgment for an employer based on the employer’s policy that indicated the employee was eligible for FMLA leave. Tilley v. Kalamazoo Cty. Road Comm., 2015 WL 304190 (6th Cir. 2015).
An employee of the Kalamazoo Road Commission was subject to a written reprimand requiring him to submit three separate assignments by deadlines set by his supervisor. On the morning of his final assignment, August 1, the employee complained of chest pain, presented symptoms of a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. He was discharged from the hospital the following day and informed the Road Commission that he would not return to work until August 5. He did not submit the final assignment. On August 9, an employer representative mailed the employee FMLA paperwork stating he was eligible for FMLA leave due to his absence. On August 12, however, the Road Commission terminated his employment for failing to complete his final assignment. The employee sued for FMLA interference and FMLA retaliation.
The Kalamazoo Road Commission’s Personnel Manual stated, “Employees covered under the Family Medical Leave Act are full-time employees who have worked for the Road Commission and accumulated 1,250 work hours in the previous 12 months.” However, the Manual failed to include that, under the FMLA, employees are only entitled to leave if the employees work at, or within 75 miles of, a site where the employer employs at least 50 employees. In this case, the Road Commission did not employ at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius. Essentially, the Commission’s policy included the first two requirements for FMLA eligibility but failed to include the third. Thus, the employees were not technically entitled to leave under the actual regulations of the FMLA.
The Court of Appeals, however, held that an employee’s reasonable reliance on the Manual allowed the employee to proceed to trial on his interference and retaliation claim for taking FMLA leave. The Court indicated that the Road Commission “could have qualified its statement concerning employee eligibility by adding that its full-time employees would only be covered by the FMLA if they worked at, or within 75 miles, of a site at which the Road Commission employed at least 50 employees.” As this case teaches, Employers should be careful when drafting FMLA policies so that they do not inadvertently establish a greater right to leave benefits than the law allows.
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