Atlanta Employment Attorneys Blog
Requesting leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act might seem like a simple and straightforward thing… but that is not always the case. Employees seeking leave must submit careful, detailed requests and supporting documentation (such as doctor’s notes) that sufficiently put employers on notice that the employee has a serious medical condition requiring FMLA leave. If you have questions about your rights and obligations under the FMLA, it is wise to consult an experienced FMLA leave lawyer.
A recent FMLA retaliation case from a federal court in Florida illustrates how a request can go wrong if not done correctly.
D.N., the employee, was a billing contract coordinator for a community organization who went into early labor and delivered her child prematurely. After the child’s birth, the coordinator requested four weeks of FMLA leave, spanning from early February to early March 2023. Alongside her request, the employee presented a note from her doctor to support the request.
The employer elected to reject the note, deny the request, and terminate the coordinator’s employment “due to her absences from work.”
The coordinator sued, alleging, among other things, FMLA retaliation. The employer, however, prevailed. The employer’s success highlights some key points about the process of making a valid FMLA request and when a request does (or does not) trigger an obligation on the part of the employer.
Doctors’ Certifications and ‘Protected’ Activity
One is what does (or does not) constitute “protected conduct.”
In any FMLA retaliation case, the first step requires the employee to demonstrate a “prima facie” case. That includes three elements: “(1) she engaged in a statutorily protected conduct; (2) she suffered an adverse employment action; and (3) there is a causal connection between the two.”
The first of the three — engaging in protected activity — is not necessarily as straightforward as it may seem on the surface. Take the coordinator’s case. The employee submitted a request for leave, along with a doctor’s note. That was enough to constitute a protected activity under the FMLA, right?
Wrong, according to the court. To be a protected activity under the FMLA, a request must clearly indicate not only that the employee needs leave, but also that the leave is related to a “serious health condition.”
This indirectly imposes on employees and their treating professionals a need to phrase FMLA requests with specificity. For example, as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has noted in the past, “being incapacitated because of a pregnancy” is a serious health condition, but simply being pregnant is not.
The coordinator’s request and doctor’s note suffered from the sorts of deficiencies. She merely asked for post-partum leave. Her doctor, on the note, merely wrote that D.N. “was expected to return to work on 2/7/2023. Patient is requesting an additional 4 weeks of leave from 2/7/2023 – 3/7/2023.”
Note what is absent. The doctor did not state that the employee has an ongoing medical condition, nor that she needs the extra four weeks of leave as a result of that condition. By comparison, the doctor’s certification form available on the Wage and Hour Division’s website (entitled “Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition under the Family and Medical Leave Act”) is four pages long, more than half of which falls in the “health care provider” section. It prompts the physician to provide detailed information about the patient’s condition, job functions, and the amount of leave needed.
Without more, D.N.’s doctor’s note was so bare-bones that it failed to “alert [the employer] of a ‘serious health condition’ requiring FMLA leave.” And, without that alert, the employee’s action did not meet the standard of engaging in protected activity under the statute.
Are you an employer or employee with questions about the FMLA, FMLA leave, or leave requests? If so, reach out to the skilled Atlanta FMLA leave attorneys at Parks, Chesin & Walbert. Our team routinely handles these issues, so we have the firsthand knowledge necessary to provide reliable advice. Contact us through this website or at 404-873-8048 to schedule a consultation today.