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“How Long Must I Wait?” . . . FMLA Style

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
11/21/2023
ADA, FMLA
The Pennsylvania based rock band Dr. Dog has a song on its 2012 album “Be the Void” titled How Long Must I Wait?  It has a line in the second verse about the battle of Baltimore.  Extra credit there because it’s geographically local.  What got me thinking about it was an Eleventh Circuit oral argument held in a FMLA case last week.  Magwood v. RaceTrac Petroleum, No. 22-12501 (11th Cir.) (arg. held 11/16/23).  The plaintiff appealed the...
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DOL Releases Revised Mandatory FMLA and FLSA Posters

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
06/08/2023
FMLA, PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, Workplace Postings
The DOL has revised its Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) posters.  Employers will need to update these postings to remain in compliance with their obligations under these laws. FMLA Poster. Employers who are covered by the FMLA (i.e., private employers with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius, as well as public agencies regardless of employee count) are required to display the DOL poster that...
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Employers: Probably How Not to Win a FMLA Case

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
04/05/2023
FMLA
It’s that time of year when I update my treatise on FMLA/Wage & Hour Law (available as a part of the Labor and Employment Law multi-volume series published by Lexis/ Nexis).  But enough gratuitous self-promotion.  The FMLA turns 30 years old this year.  It remains hard to argue with the Congressional intent of a desire to “balance workplace and family.”   And, as FMLA jurisprudence has matured over the years, there are now not many...
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Delaware Enacts Family and Medical Paid Leave Law

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/11/2022
FMLA, Paid Leave
Yesterday, Delaware became the latest state to pass a law requiring private employers to participate in an insurance program that will provide paid family and medical leave to workers who meet certain eligibility requirements.  The Healthy Delaware Families Act (Act) is similar to Maryland’s recently-passed Time to Care Act, as well as laws in 10 other jurisdictions that aim to ensure employees have access to paid time off for family and medical...
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Second and Third Opinions In FMLA Cases

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
04/22/2022
FMLA
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania recently addressed the proper role of employer-sought second opinions, as well as third opinions, in FMLA cases. Wert v. The Pennsylvania State University (April 15, 2022). Brenda Wert was an accountant at Penn State University. She had a medical certification allowing her to take one day of FMLA leave per week for migraines. When she started taking more time, Penn State asked...
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Maryland General Assembly Passes Paid FMLA Law

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
04/04/2022
FMLA, Legislative Developments, State Law
On March 31, the Maryland Senate approved the  “Time to Care Act,” which will provide paid family leave to employees of businesses with 15 or more employees. The bill now goes to Governor Hogan, where it may be vetoed. However, the General Assembly passed the law with enough time to override a veto, should the Governor choose to do so. The Time to Care Act offers employees 12 weeks of partially paid family leave each year to care for themselves...
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Something Smells Funny in this FMLA Case

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
02/18/2022
FMLA
The internet is for … looking stuff up.  Sometimes I become interested in the possible back story of a case that, on it’s face, seems boring.  That’s what happened today. A recent FMLA case (yes, it’s time to begin my book update) seemed pedestrian enough:  a federal court denied the employer’s motion to dismiss the FMLA claims of an employee who alleges he was denied benefits and disciplined in violation of the Act.  Diorio v. City of...
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Employee’s Pandemic-Related FMLA Claims Survive Dismissal

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/11/2021
COVID-19, FMLA, Virginia Employment Law
At the risk of stating the obvious, employees and employers alike have faced challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  Many have approached these challenges with an open-mind, flexibility, compassion.  A recent decision from a federal court in Virginia provides a useful reminder of these principles in the context of a worker’s claim that his former employer interfered with his rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act...
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Alleged Harassment Lets FMLA Claim Proceed

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
10/18/2021
Disability & Leave, FMLA
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides that use of FMLA leave cannot be used as a “negative factor” in employment actions designed to discourage an employee from taking leave.  See 29 C.F.R. § 825.220 (b) and (c). There are two types of FMLA claims: “interference” and “discrimination/retaliation” claims.  Courts have rejected the notion that the FMLA – unlike Title VII or the ADEA – provides for a “hostile work...
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The COVID Cases are Coming, the COVID Cases are Coming!

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
08/23/2021
COVID-19, FMLA, Virginia Employment Law
And so it has begun.  Unless you just arrived from another planet, you know that we’ve been in COVID world for about 18 months.  The lawsuits involving employee behavior, and employer reactions to that behavior, during the pandemic are being filed and decided in state and federal courts.  Here’s one where a physician assistant’s (PA) unprofessional behavior in the early months of COVID led to his termination.  Unwilling or unable to accept...
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