United States Court of Appeals

for the Fifth Circuit

No. 21-30237

Erin Carter, 

Plaintiff—Appellant,

versus

St. Tammany Parish School Board; Amy T. Burns, 

Defendants—Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Eastern District of Louisiana

USDC No. 2:19-CV-9651

Before Jones, Haynes, and Costa, Circuit Judges.

Per Curiam:*

Erin Carter, a middle-school teacher, developed migraines and 

stopped showing up for work. She unsuccessfully sought extended sick leave, 

which is paid leave under Louisiana law. See La. R.S. § 17:1202. The school

instead offered her unpaid medical leave. Although Carter never completed 

the paperwork for unpaid leave, she did not show up to teach for the rest of 

* Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this 

opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited 

circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

February 17, 2022

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

Case: 21-30237 Document: 00516206232 Page: 1 Date Filed: 02/17/2022
No. 21-30237

2

the school year. After the school year ended, the school board terminated 

Carter for her unauthorized lengthy absence. Carter then sued under the 

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities 

Act (ADA). The district court granted summary judgement for the employer

on all claims. We affirm.

We first address Carter’s claim the school interfered with her FMLA 

rights (she does not pursue FMLA retaliation on appeal). Carter must show 

that the school board “interfered with, restrained, or denied her exercise or 

attempt to exercise FMLA rights, and that the violation prejudiced her.” 

Cuellar v. Keppel Amfels, L.L.C., 731 F.3d 342, 347 (5th Cir. 2013). The 

district court held that Carter had no FMLA rights because her migraines 

were not a “serious health condition.” See 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(D); We 

do not rely on this rationale as there is likely a fact dispute on whether her

migraines required “continuing treatment by a health care provider.” See 29

C.F.R. § 825.115.

But assuming Carter was entitled to leave, the school offered it. It told 

Carter she was eligible for unpaid leave and twice provided her with the 

application. Yet Carter never requested the leave, which would have 

converted her to unpaid status. Employers may require employees “to 

comply with the employer’s usual and customary notice and procedural 

requirements for requesting leave, absent unusual circumstances.” Id. § 

825.302(d). “Discipline resulting from the employee’s failure to do so does 

not constitute interference with the exercise of FMLA rights.” Acker v. Gen. 

Motors, L.L.C., 853 F.3d 784, 789 (5th Cir. 2017).

Nonetheless, Carter argues that the school board violated the FMLA

because it never told her that statute was the source of the offered leave.

Labor Department regulations do require employers to provide employees 

that may qualify for FMLA leave with written notice of their rights and 

Case: 21-30237 Document: 00516206232 Page: 2 Date Filed: 02/17/2022
No. 21-30237

3

obligations under the Act. See 29 C.F.R. § 825.300. But a violation of that 

regulation must have “prejudiced” Carter to support an interference claim. 

See Cuellar, 731 F.3d at 347; Bryant v. Tex. Dep't of Aging & Disability Servs., 

781 F.3d 764, 770 (5th Cir. 2015) (finding no evidence of prejudice because 

the plaintiff “took all of the family-care leave to which she was entitled”). 

Purely “technical violation[s]” of Labor Department regulations are not 

actionable. See Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide, Inc., 535 U.S. 81, 84, 89–

91 (2002).

Nothing in the record indicates Carter was prejudiced by the school’s

failure to explain that the leave offered was an FMLA benefit. Carter has not 

submitted evidence, even a declaration, explaining why she would have been 

more inclined to complete the form and convert to unpaid status had she 

known the requirement came from the FMLA, rather than her employer’s 

goodwill. If anything, she might have been more reluctant to take the leave 

knowing it would count against her FMLA leave, as that would reduce her 

reservoir of federally guaranteed leave for future contingencies. Summary 

judgment is thus appropriate on the FMLA claim.

The ADA claim also fails. We again assume Carter has a qualifying 

condition (for this law, a disability). But we affirm on the alternative ground 

that Carter has failed to establish that she was “qualified” for the job. See 

Hypes v. First Commerce Corp., 134 F.3d 721, 726 (5th Cir. 1998). “[R]egular

work-site attendance is an essential function of most jobs.” Credeur v. 

Louisiana, 860 F.3d 785, 793 (5th Cir. 2017). That is certainly true of 

teaching. And Carter’s migraines prevented her from teaching for weeks at 

a time. See Bethscheider v. Webstar Energy, 820 F. App'x 749, 750, 753 (10th 

Cir. 2020) (finding that migraines, which interfered with work attendance, 

made the plaintiff unqualified). As well, Carter has not identified reasonable 

accommodations that would have allowed her to remain in the classroom. 

Carter failed to raise a fact issue that she was deprived of occasional days off 

Case: 21-30237 Document: 00516206232 Page: 3 Date Filed: 02/17/2022
No. 21-30237

4

for medical reasons or that she asked for an accommodation of specific days 

off and was denied that accommodation. Instead, what actually happened, is 

that she was denied the “accommodation” of indefinite leave, which is what 

Carter essentially took without telling the school. That type of leave is not a 

reasonable accommodation. See Rogers v. Int'l Marine Terminals, 87 F.3d 755, 

759 (5th Cir. 1996).1

Carter has not established that she could perform her teaching duties 

“with or without reasonable accommodation.” See 42 U.S.C. § 12111(8). 

Summary judgment thus is appropriate on her ADA claim.

Lastly, Carter challenges the district court’s denial of her motion to 

reconsider the summary judgement ruling based on new evidence. We do 

not see an abuse of discretion in the denial of the Rule 59(e) motion. “[A]n 

unexcused failure to present evidence available at the time of summary 

judgment provides a valid basis for denying a subsequent motion for 

reconsideration.” Templet v. HydroChem Inc., 367 F.3d 473, 479 (5th Cir. 

2004). Carter attributes her failure to present evidence before summary 

judgement to a filing mistake. But that mistake only explains 84 of the 

thousands of pages of evidence that Carter later sought to add via her Rule 

59 motion. Moreover, Carter has not established that any of her new 

evidence would affect the outcome of her case. See Lavespere v. Niagara 

Mach. & Tool Works, Inc., 910 F.2d 167, 174 (5th Cir. 1990). The medical 

records confirm that Carter has obtained frequent treatment for debilitating 

migraines, which would help her establish both a “serious health condition” 

1 Carter also asserts that the School Board could have “provid[ed] a ParaProfessional to assist her in her classroom duties.” But Carter never sought a teacher’s 

aide as a disability accommodation. See Taylor v. Principal Fin. Grp., LLC, 93 F.3d 155, 165 

(5th Cir. 1996) (explaining that an employee who needs an accommodation has the 

responsibility of informing her employer, unless the need is “open, obvious, and apparent

to the employer”).

Case: 21-30237 Document: 00516206232 Page: 4 Date Filed: 02/17/2022
No. 21-30237

5

and a “disability.” But, as explained above, Carter’s FMLA and ADA claims 

fail for other reasons.

***

The judgment is AFFIRMED.

Case: 21-30237 Document: 00516206232 Page: 5 Date Filed: 02/17/2022