Category: 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...

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...

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...

An employer that fired a worker who broke his little toe and then did not come to work because, he claimed, he couldn’t get his work boots on will have to let a jury decide whether he had a serious health condition under the FMLA and whether, as a result, his termination was illegal interference with his FMLA rights.  Scholl v. Miami Valley Polishing, LLC, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82946 (S.D. Ohio 2021). The company, MVP, supplies polished aluminum...

I am in the process of updating my FMLA/Wage & Hour treatise published by LEXIS/NEXIS (gratuitous self-promotion).  All this means is that I have been reading lots of FMLA cases; my blogs this week will be a teaser for what’s new in the book.  As you likely know, the challenges in applying the FMLA, ADA and workers’ compensation law when an employee needs time off from work are, at times, mind-boggling.  The interplay of these statutes in...