A new Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling illustrates why it is so important for HR personnel and frontline managers to understand the provisions of the state and federal family and medical leave laws.
Employee Takes Maternity Leave
Xin Liu was a research scientist for Amway Corp. (now Alticor) in Southern Calif. She went on maternity leave June 27, her baby was born in August, and Liu set her return-to-work date for September 19—for a total leave of 12 weeks.
Manager Denies Requests to Extend Leave
During Liu’s absence, her supervisor, Kha Tran, did most of Liu’s work and was anxious for her to get back to work. Tran phoned Liu a few weeks before her return date, and Liu told him she needed until December to recover from childbirth because she was experiencing fainting spells and fatigue. Tran denied her request.
A few weeks later, Liu again asked Tran to extend her leave until December so she could recover from pregnancy and bond with her baby. Plus, she was going to travel to China to care for her terminally ill father. Tran again refused but told her she could go on a personal leave of absence until November 16. Liu eventually contacted human resources to explain her need to extend her leave into December, and was told a member of HR would talk to Tran. A few days later, Tran granted Liu an additional week of leave, until November 23.
Employee Discharged While on Leave
In early October, before Liu’s extended leave was up, Tran learned he had to eliminate a position in his department as part of a company reduction-in-force. He prepared a performance evaluation of Liu that placed her at the bottom of the department, even though she previously had received only positive evaluations. A few weeks later, Liu was terminated. The decision to discharge her was based on Tran’s evaluation.
Liu sued, charging Amway had interfered with her protected leave rights under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). Now, the Ninth Circuit, which covers California, has ruled Liu can take her case to a jury.
Interference with Protected Leave
The court explained that under the California pregnancy disability leave law, Liu was entitled to up to four months of pregnancy disability leave. When that expired, she was eligible for up to 12 weeks of family and medical leave to care for her baby or an ill family member.
By repeatedly denying Liu’s leave extension requests and pressuring her to reduce her leave, said the court, Tran had violated Liu’s family and medical leave rights. The court pointed out that it is the employer’s responsibility to determine whether FMLA/CFRA leave is appropriate, to inquire as to specific facts to make that determination, and to inform the employee of his or her leave rights—all of which Amway didn’t do.
Finally, the court said a jury could find the company impermissibly used Liu’s leave as a factor in deciding to discharge her. There was evidence that Tran took Liu’s protected leave into account when giving her a low performance score and recommending her for termination.
Careful Training Required
The best way to avoid similar lawsuits is to thoroughly train everyone in your company who may be required to communicate with an employee about FMLA leave, and to make sure you have established clear channels of communication to handle FMLA matters. Here are specific guidelines:
- Advise employees to contact HR. Your employee handbook should advise employees to make leave requests to the person responsible for HR matters. Make sure supervisors and managers know to refer employees who have leave requests or questions to HR. Remind supervisors to pass along to the HR department any information the employee may have provided to them.
- Train HR personnel. HR employees should be trained on the details of the state and federal leave laws. For example, they should know which questions they can and can’t ask employees who request leave and the materials and other information they must provide to employees who request leave.
- Train supervisors and managers. Non-HR managers and supervisors also should be trained on the leave laws’ requirements so they can identify when an employee needs or is requesting leave and refer them to HR.