Earlier this week, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict against a company that fired an employee, Tracy Wink, because she needed leave to care for her autistic son. The jury found that Wink’s termination violated the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Wink had to…
A new study from Bloomberg shows that workers filed more lawsuits under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 2015 than in previous years. At the same time, employers continue to try to detect “FMLA abuse,” which occurs when employees take FMLA leave they are not entitled to take.…
Last week, the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) case which involved claims against Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. The court held that Bridgestone unlawfully interfered with the FMLA rights of Lucas Hernandez, a tire builder Bridgestone fired because of attendance.…
A new poll conducted by National Public Radio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that many people believe that work is bad for their health. Here are some of the key findings about working adults in the U.S.: 43% say that their…
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (DOL WHD) recently updated its Employer’s Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). DOL WHD produced this Guide “in an effort to increase public awareness of the FMLA and of the various [DOL] resources and services available to the…
We wanted to share a powerful editorial from USA Today that drives home how important it is for Maine and the rest of the country to adopt policies that permit workers to take paid parental leave to care for newborn children. Given how painful their experiences undoubtedly were, we applaud…
Last week a federal court in New Hampshire held that a jury could reasonably find that First Data Merchant Services (“First Data”) violated the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) when it fired Jessica Fountain, a former First Data account executive. Ms. Fountain took FMLA leave in 2009 because of…
Many employers in Maine and around the country jointly employ workers. For example, the relationships between staffing companies and their clients are often designed so that the staffing company and the client jointly employ the workers who perform work for the client. In these situations, there are special rules for…
It is a common perception among management-side employment lawyers that employees tend to abuse their rights to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) around the holidays. Some examples of management-side employment lawyers’ advice to businesses about this can be found here, here, and here. So, if you…
Earlier this month the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a property management company violated the FMLA rights of its former employee Ena Wages. Ms. Wages worked for the company as a caretaker from November 17, 2008 to November 16, 2009. Caretakers maintained the company’s properties…