By Lisa Berg, Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.
The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Alabama, Florida, and Georgia—recently had to decide whether Dollar General violated the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it terminated an employee based on its discovery during her medical leave that she had engaged in misconduct.
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Facts
Kimberly Thomas, who managed a Dollar General store, took medical leave for breast cancer treatment. While she was on leave, her district manager visited her store in the wake of a robbery and learned that two employees hadn’t taken the required computer-based course on robbery prevention, even though their records stated they had completed the training. Dollar General also discovered that Thomas had worked the employees “off the clock” without compensation.
Dollar General terminated Thomas because it had a good-faith belief that she was working associates off the clock and falsifying company records. Thomas denied the accusations but conceded that she had instructed employees to complete the robbery prevention training off the clock, which also was grounds for termination.
Thomas subsequently filed an action against Dolgencorp, LLC, the company that operates Dollar General stores, alleging her former employer discriminated against her based on her disability (cancer) under the ADA when it terminated her employment after she took leave to have a double mastectomy.
She also brought claims under the FMLA alleging that Dollar General (1) interfered with her right to take FMLA leave when it refused to reinstate her to her store manager position and instead terminated her after she returned from medical leave and (2) retaliated against her by terminating her employment because she exercised her right to FMLA leave.