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No FMLA Claim For Employee Who Posted Vacation Photos On Facebook During Leave

Kollman & Saucier
02/26/2013
FMLA
A federal court in Michigan recently dismissed the FMLA claims of an employee fired for misuse of FMLA leave and dishonesty after posting photographs of her vacation on Facebook while on medical leave.  Lineberry v. Richards, No. 2: 11-13752 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 5, 2013).   Carol Lineberry worked as a registered nurse for Detroit Medical Center (DMC).  In January 2011, Lineberry complained of excruciating pain in her back and legs after moving...
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Employee Not Entitled To FMLA After Failing To Produce Health Care Provider Certification

Kollman & Saucier
02/21/2013
FMLA
Most employers and human resource professionals know that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) permits certain employees of covered employers to take unpaid leave for specified family and medical reasons.  The FMLA, through its implementing regulations, requires that an employee claiming FMLA provide his or her employer within fifteen days (or longer if the employer so allows) a certificate of health care provider confirming the employee’s...
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International USW Ousts Local 9477’s Officials and Seizes Assets

Kollman & Saucier
02/19/2013
Labor Law, Union Activity
In a decidedly un-brotherly move, the President of the United Steelworkers International has placed Local 9477, the local union hall representing the steelworkers in Sparrows Point and the surrounding businesses, under an “administratorship,” Baltimore Brew reported yesterday.  According to the report, Local 9477’s officers have resigned or been suspended and last Thursday, Joe Rosel, Jr., president of Local 9477 was escorted from the premises...
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No Preferential Treatment for Pregnant Employees: Fourth Circuit Holds for Employer in Disability and Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit

Kollman & Saucier
02/18/2013
Disability & Leave, Pregnancy Discrimination
The Fourth Circuit confirmed a delivery driver barred from working due to a pregnancy-related lifting restriction lost her claims under Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) against UPS.  Young v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., No. 11-2078, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 530 (Jan. 9, 2013). In 2006, UPS employee Peggy Young became pregnant while on leave and was given a twenty-pound lifting restriction.  The ability to...
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Liquidated Damages In FLSA Retaliation Claims Are Not Mandatory

Kollman & Saucier
02/18/2013
Damages, Retaliation, Wage & Hour
Is it a requirement to award liquidated damages in a wage and hour retaliation case?  The question has been raised before and rejected.  It has now been rejected again.  This time, in Moore v. Appliance Direct, Inc., 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 3047 (11th Cir. Feb. 13, 2013), the Eleventh Circuit held that the plain language of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) makes the award of liquidated damages discretionary and agreed with the Sixth and Eighth...
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Employers Reminded to Avoid Unilateral Changes and Surveillance of Union Activity

Kollman & Saucier
02/15/2013
Labor Law
The Fourth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, recently enforced a National Labor Relations Board decision, which concluded that a Maryland employer committed numerous unfair labor practices when it engaged in surveillance of union activities, unilaterally modified the terms and conditions of employment, and unlawfully terminated an employee.  The case, Pessoa Construction Company v. NLRB, Nos. 11-1688, 11-1776 (4th Cir. Jan. 25, 2013)...
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Maryland Court Dismisses ADAAA Claim Brought By Cop Who Can’t Run Fast

Kollman & Saucier
02/11/2013
Disability & Leave, Litigation, Public Sector Employment Law
A federal court in Maryland dismissed a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by a police officer trainee who needed more than 17 minutes to run a mile and a half. LaPier v. Prince Georges County, No. 8:10-cv-02851 (2/7/13).  Rejecting the officer’s requests for a permanent light duty assignment or modification of the police department’s fitness standards, the Court held  that it was not unreasonable to require police officers to be able to...
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Department of Labor Issues Revised FMLA Regulations

Kollman & Saucier
02/07/2013
Agency Activity, FMLA
On the 20th Anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the DOL issued its final regulations on Servicemember FMLA and on Flight Crew eligibility.  There was little outcry about these changes to the regulations.  The changes take effect 30 days from their publication in the February 6, 2013 Federal Register, which republished all of the FMLA regulations,  as well as the changes. You can find them through this...
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NLRB Strikes Down Employer Rule Prohibiting External Communications

Kollman & Saucier
01/31/2013
Labor Law, Social Media
On January 25, 2013, the NLRB continued its assault on employer policies limiting employee communications. In its latest salvo, the Board struck down rules restricting communications with media representatives and law enforcement officials, as well as a prohibition on making external disclosures about the company, its customers, and its employees.  DirecTV U.S. DirecTV Holdings LLC, 359 NLRB No. 54 (2013). At issue in the case were four DirecTV...
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Supreme Court Denies Review On FMLA Interference Burden Of Proof

Kollman & Saucier
01/31/2013
FMLA
The burden of proof in interference claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is one that divides the federal appellate courts.  But not enough, it appears, to warrant Supreme Court review.  On January 14, 2013, the Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in Thomsen v Stantec, Inc., , 2013 U.S. LEXIS 751 (Jan. 14, 2013), which sought to have the Court consider the issue. Thomsen was an electrical engineer for Stantec....
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