Minnesota Federal Court Issues Warnings To Employees About Intermittent FMLA Leave And Absences For Non-FMLA Conditions

We’re monitoring a decision from a Minnesota federal court in a Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) case issued earlier this year, Evans v. Cooperative Response Center, Inc.. The case concerns the possibility that employees could be fired for overusing intermittent FMLA leave. The decision also reminds employees that they cannot miss work for every medical condition simply because they have FMLA protection for one of their medical conditions.

The plaintiff, Tori Evans, suffered from an autoimmune disorder called reactive arthritis. That affected her ability to work, so her doctor completed FMLA paperwork for her. He estimated Evans would need up to four hours per day, once or twice a month for appointments, and would need one to two full days of leave per month for flare-ups. Consistent with Dr. Angstman’s medical certification, CRC approved Evans for two full days and two half days of intermittent FMLA leave per month. Ex. S. The FMLA leave covered reactive arthritis, GI illness, oral lesions, and joint pains and associated doctor appointments.

Evans then began using her FMLA time over the course of the next year. Her employer gave her attendance points for several of those absences. Some of those points were because she missed work due to medical conditions that were outside of the scope of the FMLA certification her doctor has prepared. Other points were because Evans missed more work for intermittent FMLA leave than her doctor anticipated.

Evans was eventually fired because of excessive unexcused absences. She then sued her employer. Among the claims that Evans asserted was an argument that the employer shouldn’t have assessed attendance points against for the days she’d missed.

Evans argued that the employer unlawfully denied her FMLA leave for absences that exceeded her certified monthly allotment of intermittent FMLA leave. She contended that her leave should not have been strictly limited to the monthly estimates provided in her doctor’s medical certifications. The court disagreed. The employer had warned Evans that her absences were exceeding the number that her doctor estimated. It requested that her doctor recertify her need for intermittent FMLA, which he did, providing the same number of estimated absences. Under those circumstances, the employer lawfully denied FMLA time for absences that exceeded the number Evans’s doctor expected.

The court also ruled that Evans was not entitled to FMLA leave, and properly received attendance points for, medical absences that were unrelated to the condition and symptoms for which her doctor had provided FMLA certification. She had missed several days because of a knee issue. She had not requested FMLA time, and her doctor had not certified FMLA leave, for any knee issues. There is no protection from disciplinary action for medical absences that aren’t covered by the FMLA, even if the employee has FMLA protection for other conditions. Consequently, it was proper for the employer to discipline Evans for missing work because of knee issues.

The Evans decision has been appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The Eighth Circuit’s appellate jurisdiction includes Iowa. Thus, although the Minnesota federal decision isn’t binding on Iowa’s federal courts, the Eighth Circuit’s decision will be. It’s an appeal worth monitoring given the prevalence of intermittent FMLA use.