Employer, supervisor missteps foil request to have case dismissed

Employer minimizes the need for FMLA paperwork

Over concern for her employment, Kimberly repeatedly sought, and received, reassurance from Sean about her performance and asked about legal paperwork to account for her absences. Consistent with the company’s FMLA policy, Sean told Kimberly that she did not need FMLA paperwork.

As her health issues worsened, the employer questioned her more about her health but without mention of the FMLA. In December 2021, Kimberly had a lengthy hospital stay and recovery for which HR gave her FMLA paperwork again.

Kimberly returned to work, working from home when needed. She also provided a certification estimating about six months’ worth of intermittent leave. The employer denied receiving it.

Kimberly met with Todd from HR upon returning from her hospital stay and asked about intermittent FMLA leave for ongoing appointments. During this meeting, Todd, per company policy, discouraged her from taking intermittent FMLA leave and instead told her to work out a schedule with her manager. Todd thought Kimberly’s FMLA coverage ended when she returned to work, so he did not follow up on intermittent leave.

In May 2022, Kimberly asked Todd when she would need to update her FMLA paperwork and the tracking of FMLA hours. Todd responded that Kimberly had nothing listed about FMLA going forward.

The company fired Kimberly in June 2022, allegedly for poor job performance, despite receiving positive feedback. Kimberly sued, claiming FMLA interference and retaliation.

In court, the employer argued that other than when she was hospitalized, Kimberly was never eligible for FMLA leave because she never returned any completed FMLA paperwork and intermittent leave was not medically necessary. The court, however, found enough issues to allow the case to proceed to a jury.

Missteps:

1. The employer told Kimberly that her first paperwork was misplaced or not received, but didn’t tell Kimberly about submitting paperwork again.
2. The information from Kimberly’s physicians might have indicated that she needed intermittent FMLA leave.
3. The facts indicated that Kimberly might have given the employer enough information to put it on notice of her need for FMLA leave.
4. The employer continuously told Kimberly that she did not need to use FMLA for her absences and that instead, she should just work out a schedule with her supervisor.
5. If she were on intermittent FMLA leave, the employer would have considered Kimberly’s FMLA absences when evaluating her job performance.
6. Kimberly claimed that her supervisor repeatedly asked about her health and recovery, often in a hostile manner, and that only after Kimberly asked about FMLA leave again did the supervisor put Kimberly’s underperformance in writing.

Ahmann v. Blattner Holding Company, LLC; District Court of Minnesota; No. 23-cv-02620; March 11, 2025.

Key to remember: Employers should take careful steps to ensure they follow the FMLA process, including certification requests and receipts. Supervisors should be able to recognize leave notices, and should not retaliate against employees for asking for or taking leave.