The rights of a long-term, 36-year employee under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) were violated and he was wrongfully terminated, the Sixth Circuit has ruled in Thom v. American Standard, Inc, Nos. 09-3507/3508 (6th Cir., January 20, 2012). The court affirmed a district court judgment.
Carl Thom began working for American Standard in June 1969. He requested FMLA leave from April 27, 2005, until June 27, 2005, on account of a non-work related shoulder injury and related surgery. American Standard approved Thom's FMLA leave through June 27, 2005, in writing. Thom progressed well following surgery, and his doctor released him to return to "light duty" work on May 31 and further advised that Thom probably could be fully released on June 13, two weeks before the date initially expected.
Thom tried to resume work on May 31, but the company sent him home, explaining that it did not allow "light duty" work to employees with non-work-related injuries. On June 14, the company contacted him because he did not appear for work on June 13. Thom explained that he had suffered a setback with his shoulder and said he would get a doctor's note explaining. On June 18 Thom delivered to the company a doctor's note requesting that his leave be extended to July 18. However, American Standard had already terminated his employment, because it had counted June 13-17 as unexcused absences.
The district court ruled that Thom's termination unlawfully interfered with his rights under the FMLA. Its judgment awarded Thom $104,354.85 in back pay, $2,732.90 in costs and $99,960 in attorney's fees. It also ordered further relief to protect Thom's pension and retirement benefits.
The Sixth Circuit framed the issue as whether American Standard had properly informed Thom of the method by which it calculated his FMLA leave time. American Standard claimed that the "rolling" method of calculation applied, which meant that Thom's FMLA leave expired June 13. The "calendar" method allows for 12 weeks of FMLA leave in each calendar year, and this method would have extended Thom's FMLA leave through at least July 14.
The Sixth Circuit rejected American Standard's claimed reliance on the "rolling" method of calculation, explaining as follows:
- At no time throughout the FMLA process did the company mention to Thom that his leave time would be governed by a "rolling" 12-month period.
- Thom was only notified that American Standard had accelerated his return-to-work date on June 14, after it had already elapsed the day before.
- The first time Thom was given actual notice that the Company was using a "rolling" method requiring him to return to work on an earlier date was after he filed his lawsuit in this case when the defense lawyers raised the rolling method as a defense.
The Court concluded that "the Company's post-lawsuit defenses that the rolling method should be used to fix the date or that any date earlier than June 27 should be used are unreasonable" and affirmed the district court's ruling on this point.
Robert L. Abell
www.RobertAbellLaw.com
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