Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-06-03568/USCOURTS-ca8-06-03568-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 442
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights Employment
Cause of Action: 

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1

The Honorable Lewis M. Blanton, United States Magistrate Judge for the

Eastern District of Missouri. The parties consented to have a Magistrate Judge

conduct the proceedings in the district court. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c)(1).

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 06-3568

___________

Larry McKlintic, *

*

Plaintiff/Appellant, *

* 

v. * Appeal from the United States

* District Court for the Eastern

36th Judicial Circuit Court, Juvenile * District of Missouri.

Division, State of Missouri, employer; *

State of Missouri, employer, * [PUBLISHED]

*

Defendants/Appellees. *

___________

Submitted: May 16, 2007

Filed: November 28, 2007

___________

Before WOLLMAN, BRIGHT, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judges.

___________

PER CURIAM.

Larry McKlintic appeals from the district court's1

 dismissal of his suit against

his employer, the 36th Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Missouri, seeking relief

under the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (known as the FMLA)

granting a right to leave on account of the employee's own illness (known as the selfcare provisions of the Act). The district court held that McKlintic's suit against the

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The only precedential opinions of circuit courts on the issue are unanimous in

holding that the FMLA self-care provisions did not abrogate the states' immunity.

Toeller v. Wis. Dep't of Corr., 461 F.3d 871, 873, 879 (7th Cir. 2006) (no abrogation

in the case at bar, but reserving question of whether FMLA abrogates state immunity

from claims of self-care in context of pregnancy); Touvell v. Ohio Dep't of Mental

Retardation & Developmental Disabilities, 422 F.3d 392, 405 (6th Cir. 2005), cert.

denied, 546 U.S. 1173 (2006); Brockman v. Wyo. Dep't of Family Servs., 342 F.3d

1159, 1165 (10th Cir. 2003); see also Bryant v. Miss. State Univ., 329 F. Supp. 2d

818, 827 (N.D. Miss. 2004); Nicholas v. Att'y Gen., —P.3d—, 2007 WL 2302093, at

*4 (Utah Aug. 14, 2007).

-2-

State was barred by the Eleventh Amendment, which the court held, was not

abrogated by the FMLA's self-care provisions. McKlintic v. 36th Judicial Circuit

Court, 464 F. Supp. 2d 871, 875 (E.D. Mo. 2006).

In Townsel v. Missouri, 233 F.3d 1094 (8th Cir. 2000), we held that the FMLA

did not abrogate the states' Eleventh Amendment immunity. Townsel was overruled

in part when the Supreme Court held in Nevada Department of Human Resources v.

Hibbs, 538 U.S. 721 (2003), that the family-care provisions of the FMLA did abrogate

the states' Eleventh Amendment immunity. McKlintic argued that Hibbs should

extend to the self-care provisions of the FMLA as well, but after McKlintic filed this

appeal, we decided Miles v. Bellfontaine Habilitation Center, 481 F.3d 1106, 1107

(8th Cir. 2007) (per curiam), in which we held that the self-care provisions of the

FMLA did not abrogate the states' immunity.2

 We are bound by the earlier decision

of a panel of our Court. South Dakota v. United States Dep't of Interior, 487 F.3d 548,

551 (8th Cir. 2007). Accordingly, we may not reconsider the question of whether the

Eleventh Amendment bars a suit against a state for violation of the self-care

provisions of the FMLA. 

McKlintic further argues that the State waived its immunity to suit by offering

FMLA leave in its employee handbook. Specifically, he alleges in his complaint, "Mr.

McKlintic's request was in fact covered under the self-care provision of the Family and

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Medical Leave Act as stated in the Missouri Circuit Courts Handbook." A state may

voluntarily waive its sovereign immunity from federal-court jurisdiction, but the

federal courts will only conclude that it has done so if the alleged waiver passes a

stringent test. College Sav. Bank v. Fla. Prepaid Postsecondary Educ. Expense Bd.,

527 U.S. 666, 675 (1999). "Generally, we will find a waiver either if the State

voluntarily invokes our jurisdiction or else if the State makes a 'clear declaration' that

it intends to submit itself to [federal] jurisdiction." Id. at 675-76 (citations omitted).

A state does not waive its immunity from federal suit by consenting to suit in state

courts, by stating its intention to sue and be sued, or by authorizing suits against it in

"any court of competent jurisdiction." Id. at 676. Thus, a state's grant to an employee

of a substantive right with no mention of whether that right can be enforced against the

state in federal court does not effect a waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity. 

 

We affirm the judgment of the district court.

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge, concurring.

I concur in the court’s opinion. I agree that we are bound by this court’s holding

in Miles v. Bellfontaine Habilitation Ctr., 481 F.3d 1106, 1107 (8th Cir. 2007) (holding

that the self-care provision of the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) did not

abrogate the states’ Eleventh Amendment immunity). See also Toeller v. Wis. Dep’t

of Corr., 461 F.3d 871, 879-80 (7th Cir. 2006); Touvell v. Ohio Dep’t of Mental

Retardation & Developmental Disabilities, 422 F.3d 392, 405 (6th Cir. 2005);

Brockman v. Wyo. Dep’t of Family Servs., 342 F.3d 1159, 1165 (10th Cir. 2003). But

see Montgomery v. Md., 2003 WL 21752919, at *1 (4th Cir. July 30, 2003) (holding

that in light of Nev. Dep’t of Human Res. v. Hibbs, 538 U.S. 721 (2003), “sovereign

immunity does not protect the states in FMLA actions”). 

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I write separately to observe that an argument can be made that the self-care

provision of the FMLA permits a suit against the State. Such issue needs resolution

by the United States Supreme Court. 

 ______________________________

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