Relying on the employer’s “honest belief” that the plaintiff had engaged in fraudulent conduct, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the FMLA retaliation claim of an employee who had requested leave to attend the funeral of her granddaughter, when it was actually her step-granddaughter who had died. The collective bargaining agreement governing the plaintiff’s employment granted paid funeral leave for a grandchild but not a step-grandchild. Hall v. The Ohio Bell Telephone Company (6th Cir. June 17, 2013).   Employers relying on the “honest belief” defense where there is suspected leave abuse have prevailed in numerous cases, which we have reported here, here, here and here. To rely on this defense, before terminating an employee for leave abuse, an employer must investigate thoroughly and identify those “particularized facts” on which it will rely.

The plaintiff had claimed that she was terminated in retaliation for taking FMLA leave, noting that the employer’s first investigation into her conduct occurred soon after her first FMLA request. Beginning in September, 2007, the plaintiff had 80 hours of FMLA leave per month due to anxiety disorder.  While working for the employer, the plaintiff wrote and self-published two novels.  In a newspaper interview a month after she began this FMLA leave, the plaintiff was quoted as saying that publishing a book “takes hard work perseverance, and determination…. [A]re you ready to give up your Saturday or Friday or take off of work to make your dream come true?”  The employer investigated the suggestion in the article that the plaintiff may have taken paid FMLA leave to write her book.

Noting that “[n]othing in the FMLA prevents employers from ensuring that employees who are on leave from work do not abuse their leave,” the Court held that the employer “articulated particularized facts” to support each of its investigations into the plaintiff’s FMLA leave.      
 

Oregon has amended its Family Leave Act (OFLA) to allow an eligible employee to take leave to “deal with the death of a family member” by attending the funeral (or alternative service), making arrangements, and grieving the death.  Under the OFLA, a “family member” includes a spouse, parent, child, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, same-gender domestic partner or parent or child of same-gender domestic partner.

An employee may take up to two weeks of OFLA leave for each death of a family member. Leave must be completed within 60 days of the date on which the employee receives notice of the death.  Bereavement leave is counted toward the maximum OFLA leave of 12 weeks per 12 month period.  The bereavement amendment is effective January 1, 2014.
 

On July 11, 2013, the U.S. Access Board and the ADA National Network will host a free webinar providing a “walk thru” of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), also known as WCAG 2.0.  The WCAG are published and maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and are the internationally recognized standards for web accessibility.

As we mentioned in a previous blog post, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to issue proposed regulations under Titles II and III of the ADA concerning web content requirements for websites to be accessible to disabled users.  WCAG 2.0 Level AA has been proposed as the standard for the DOJ to adopt in pending Title II and Title III regulations.  WCAG is a somewhat intimidating document and can be confusing for a first time reader.  Thus, this webinar can be a highly valuable resource for state and local governments covered by Title II of the ADA and private entities covered by Title III of the ADA to become familiar with this cutting edge accessibility issue.

 

Add the New York City patch to the patchwork of paid sick leave laws developing around the country. We wrote about this development in an earlier post.

The NYC law, called the Earned Sick Time Act, was passed June 27, 2013, when the New York City Council overrode the mayor’s veto of the bill. NYC joins Portland, OR, Seattle, San Francisco, the District of Columbia and Connecticut in requiring private sector employers to provide paid sick leave.

The Earned Sick Time Act goes into effect on April 1, 2014 and requires private sector employers with 20 or more employees to allow employees to earn an hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, to a maximum of 40 hours per year.  Effective October 1, 2015, an employer with at least 15 employees must provide paid sick leave. Employers who do not have sufficient employees to be required to provide paid sick leave must provide unpaid sick time.

Employees may use accrued sick time to care for their own health conditions or those of a spouse, parent, child, domestic partner, parent in law, or parent of a domestic partner.

For additional information about the provisions of the  Earned Sick Time Act, click here.
 

The Supreme Court held this week that a plaintiff bringing a retaliation claim under Title VII must establish that the adverse employment action would not have occurred “but-for” an improper motive on the employer’s part, rejecting the lesser “motivating factor” standard.  University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, (USSupCt,  June 24, 2013.  This heightened standard is likely to carry over into other federal laws, such as the ADA.

The Court held that Title VII retaliation claims must be proved according to traditional principles of but-for causation, not the “motivating factor” standard outlined in section 2000e-2(m) of the statute.  The “motivating factor” standard is the standard required to establish impermissible consideration of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment practices, the Court noted. However, this standard is not in the section regarding retaliation, 2000e-3(a), which states that “it shall be an unlawful employment practice for any employer to discriminate against any of his employees…because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by this subchapter, or because he has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this subchapter.” (emphasis added).Given the statute’s use of the word “because,” the Court found that the analysis must be a “but-for” analysis.

Similarly, the ADA’s retaliation provision states that “no person shall discriminate against any individual because such individual has opposed any act or practice made unlawful by this chapter or because such individual made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this chapter.” (emphasis added). Since the Supreme Court has established the but-for standard as the default standard absent explicit reference to the lower, “motivating factor” standard, the but-for standard is likely to apply to retaliation claims under the ADA as well.

This decision is likely to mean that fewer ADA retaliation cases will go to trial since it will be more difficult for a plaintiff to survive an employer’s summary judgment motion.

 

The Supreme Court’s Defense of Marriage Act decision expands employer obligations under the FMLA, at least in the states that recognize same-sex marriages.  The Court held that Section 3 of DOMA, which states that the meaning of “spouse” in any federal law or regulation “refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife,” was unconstitutional. U.S. v. Windsor (US Sup.Ct. June 26, 2013). 

Section 3 had left no doubt that the definition of   “spouse” under the FMLA could not possibly have included a same-sex spouse. With Section 3 gone, that prohibition went with it.

While much can and will be debated about the Court’s decision, the Court said explicitly that the definition of “spouse” under federal law includes a same sex spouse in  “lawful marriages.” Same sex marriages are lawful in 13 states.

The immediate issue is that a same sex spouse  now meets the definition of “spouse” under the FMLA in those 13 states and is entitled to the same benefits and protections under the FMLA as an opposite sex spouse.  That seems pretty clear, or is it? The 2009 FMLA regulations define a “spouse” as “a husband or wife as defined or recognized under State law for purposes of marriage in the State where the employee resides, including common law marriage in States where it is recognized.”

A same sex spouse who lives and works in one of the 13 “same sex” states would seem to meet the definition of “spouse” under the FMLA. But what if the spouse works in one of the 37 “non-same sex” states but lives in a “same sex” state? 

Complicating the issue is that while states typically recognize marriages from other states, Section 2 of DOMA says that a state need not recognize same sex marriages entered into in other states.  It is widely expected that a constitutional challenge to Section 2 is on the horizon.

Stay tuned. There will be more to come on this issue. 
 

An amputee’s request for work breaks to adjust his prosthesis may be a request for an accommodation under the ADA, according to a federal district court. Morton v. Cooper Tire & Rubber (N.D. MS, June 18, 2013). The employee was training to operate a machine which ran for twelve hour shifts.  To complete the training, an employee must "keep pace with the machine" for a full twelve hour shift.   While it usually takes two weeks to complete the training, after 30 days, the plaintiff was still unable to keep pace with the machine for a twelve hour shift. He said he could not do so because of his prosthetsic leg and asked for breaks at the beginning and end of the shift and lunch to readjust his prosthesis because sweat causes it to rub his skin and cause blisters and sores.  The plaintiff claimed he was not given the breaks he requested, and then was given the offer to resign or be terminated.

The plaintiff claimed he was terminated because of his disability and that the employer failed  to accommodate his disability. The parties agreed that operating the machine for an entire shift is an essential function.  The issue was whether the plaintiff could have performed that function with an accommodation, i.e., the requested breaks. The court denied the employer’s motion for summary judgment.  
 

The Departments of Justice, Education and Health and Human Services issued a joint letter to the nation’s medical schools, dental schools, nursing schools, and other health-related schools regarding hepatitis B discrimination.  In the letter, the departments express concern that some health-related schools may be making enrollment decisions based on an incorrect understanding of the hepatitis B virus, resulting in discrimination.

The letter describes the Department’s March 2013 hepatitis B settlement agreement with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) resolving allegations that UMDNJ violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by retracting admittance offers to previously-accepted applicants with hepatitis B, and updates health-related schools on the latest recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding the participation of students with hepatitis B in health-related schools.  The letter also emphasizes the importance of CDC’s recommendations, especially as they relate to the schools’ obligation to comply with federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability (including Titles II and III of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act) and other federal civil rights laws.  The ADA and Section 504, among other things, prohibit the use of criteria or methods of administration that have the effect of discriminating against people with disabilities and also require schools and other covered entities to make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices or procedures when necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability, unless the modification would fundamentally alter the nature of the program or the services provided.

 

Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a bill that puts the kibosh on local leave and attendance laws.  House Bill 655 prevents Florida’s political subdivisions from requiring private employers to provide employees with disability, sick leave or “personal necessity” benefits, among others.

In a statement, Governor Scott said: "This bill fosters statewide uniformity, consistency and predictability in Florida’s employer-employee relationships. These fundamental elements are essential to ensuring a business-friendly environment that supports job creation."

Florida’s interest in restricting political subdivisions from acting independently on workplace issues began in 2003, when, in response to “living wage” ordinances passed by municipalities in other states, Florida passed a law prohibiting local governments from establishing minimum wage levels for private employers in their individual jurisdictions.  Allowing municipalities to do so “would threaten to drive businesses out of these communities and out of the state in search of a more favorable and uniform business environment,” according to the introductory provisions of that bill.
 

An employee’s text message to her supervisor telling him that she could not be on call that night because her father was in the emergency room was not a request for FMLA leave. Lanier v. Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (5th Cir. June 12, 2013).  Affirming summary judgment for the employer, the court said the text message was insufficient to inform her supervisor of her intent to request FMLA leave to care for her father. The court observed that the plaintiff had taken FMLA leave previously and knew how to request it, but that the plaintiff’s "only request" was to be relieved of on-call duty that night.  "The employer is not required to be clairvoyant," the court said.

Noting that an employer may have an obligation to inquire further if the employee’s statements warrant it, the court rejected the plaintiff’s  claim that her text message  imposed such an obligation.  Also, the fact that the supervisor knew her father was over 90 years of age,  in poor health, and was having breathing problems that morning did not suggest that the employer should have made further inquiry.