Source: http://openjurist.org/212/f3d/929
Timestamp: 2013-06-18 05:47:18
Document Index: 270242434

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2612', '§ 2617', '§ 2612', '§ 825', '§ 825', '§ 825', '§ 825', '§ 825', '§ 825', '§ 825', '§ 2612', '§ 825', '§ 1630', '§1630', '§1630', '§ 4112', '§ 4112']

212 F3d 929 Philip R Plant V Morton International Inc | OpenJurist
212 F. 3d 929 - Philip R Plant V Morton International Inc Home212 f3d 929 philip r plant v morton international inc 212 F3d 929 Philip R Plant V Morton International Inc 212 F.3d 929 (6th Cir. 2000)
PHILIP R. PLANT, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,V.MORTON INTERNATIONAL, INC., DEFENDANT-APPELLEE.
No. 99-3445
Argued: February 4, 2000Decided and Filed: May 12, 2000
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland. No. 97-03234--Donald C. Nugent, District Judge.
The FMLA provides that an eligible employee is entitled to twelve weeks of leave from work for a "serious health condition" that renders the employee incapable of fulfilling that employee's job responsibilities. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(D). An employer who interferes with an employee's rights under the FMLA may be held liable in a civil suit. See 29 U.S.C. § 2617; Miller v. Defiance Metal Prods., Inc., 989 F. Supp. 945, 946 (N.D. Ohio 1997).
The FMLA makes it clear that employer-provided leave, whether paid or unpaid, may be counted toward the twelve-week minimum required by the statute. See 29 U.S.C. § 2612(c)-(d). The Department of Labor's regulations implementing the FMLA, which became final on April 6, 1995, see Bauer v. Varity Dayton-WaltherCorp., 118 F.3d 1109, 1111 n.1 (6th Cir. 1997), elaborate on the circumstances and conditions under which this may be done. In particular, 29 C.F.R. § 825.208(a) emphasizes that "[i]n all circumstances, it is the employer's responsibility to designate leave, paid or unpaid, as FMLA-qualifying, and to give notice of the designation to the employee." 29 C.F.R. § 825.208(a). Furthermore, the regulations provide that an employer wishing to count paid leave against the twelve-week minimum must so inform the employee within two days of learning of the employee's FMLA-qualifying reason for requesting leave. See id. § 825.208(b). If the employer fails to give notice to the employee within this period of time, the employer may not designate the leave as FMLA leave retrospectively; only that portion of the leave following notification by the employer may be designated as FMLA leave and counted against the twelve-week entitlement. See id. § 825.208(c).
The Cehrs court did not directly address these regulations, nor is it apparent from reading that decision whether the employer had given notice to the plaintiff that her absences would be counted as FMLA leave. Furthermore, the employee in Cehrs had taken unpaid leave rather than paid leave, see Cehrs, 155 F.3d at 779; therefore, the court had no occasion to address § 825.208(c), which appears to govern only those cases in which an employer wishes to designate paid leave as FMLA leave.1 Because it is undisputed in this case that Plant received his full salary during his second absence from work, and because it is undisputed that Morton never informed Plant that it was counting his paid absence against the statutory FMLA allowance, Cehrs is inapplicable to this case. Furthermore, the record contains uncontroverted evidence that, although Plant did not specifically report to his employer the re-injury of his back that occurred on April 26, 1996, Morton did receive a notice from Plant's doctor, dated May 6, 1996, excusing Plant from work due to a "[f]lare up [of his] lumbar/back problem." J.A. at 99 (Slip from Dr. Owen Logee). The FMLA regulations make it clear that, in such a situation, if the employer feels it does not have sufficient information to determine whether the employee's reasons for requesting leave are encompassed by the FMLA, "the employer should inquire further of the employee . . . to ascertain whether the paid leave is potentially FMLA-qualifying." 29 C.F.R. § 825.208(a). The employee need not invoke the FMLA by name in requesting leave for an FMLA-qualifying reason. See id. § 825.208(a)(2).
Having determined that, since his FMLA leave had not yet started to run, Plant is not precluded from asserting an FMLA claim due to the fact that he would have been unable to return to work within a twelve-week period, we nonetheless must consider whether Plant has demonstrated the other elements of an FMLA claim. In particular, Plant is entitled to twelve weeks of leave under the FMLA for his medical problems only if he can show that he had a "serious health condition" which rendered him "unable to perform the functions of" his position. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(D); see Miller, 989 F. Supp. at 946. According to the regulations, a serious health condition must involve either inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider. See 29 C.F.R. § 825.114(a). Because the district court decided this case on other grounds, it did not consider whether Plant's medical problems met the definition of a serious health condition under the statute and its implementing regulations. We therefore remand for that court to determine whether Plant has successfully made out the elements of an FMLA claim.
C. The ADA Claim
We hold that Plant has not produced sufficient evidence from which a factfinder could conclude that he was disabled. The definition of "physical or mental impairment" under the ADA clearly includes Plant's musculoskeletal condition of knee contusions and back strain, see 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(h)(1) (1999), and the term "major life activity" includes many of those activities described by the plaintiff: the EEOC regulations and the appendix to those regulations identify walking, performing manual tasks, working, standing, and lifting as major life activities, see 29 C.F.R. §1630.2(i); Interpretive Guidance 29 C.F.R. §1630.2(i) App. However, Plant has not made a sufficient showing that his impairment substantially limited his ability to perform those major life activities. In his deposition, Plant stated that he was, at the time of the deposition, injured to the point that he believed himself completely unable to work, unable to sit for more than three to five minutes, unable to drive on a daily basis, and unable to lift, bend, or stoop without severe pain. Initially, Plant stated that he suffered those same impairments, "on and off," during the time he was employed by Morton. J.A. at 478-80 (Plant Dep.). Later, however, Plant agreed that he was attributing his current inability to work to injuries that resulted from yet another automobile accident, which occurred nine months after he was terminated by Morton, in April of 1997. Furthermore, Plant admitted that he worked sporadically after his termination, from approximately November of 1996 to April of 1997, at a job that involved traveling to Pennsylvania once a week, installing computers, and training customers to use their computers. Finally, Plant admitted that he was never told by a physician that his impairment was permanent; nor was he told, however, that it was temporary.
D. The Ohio Revised Code § 4112.02 Claim
E. The Wrongful Discharge Claim
We do not believe that Plant was required to show all the elements of a violation of § 4112.02 in order to succeed on a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. In Kulch v. Structural Fibers, Inc., 677 N.E.2d 308 (Ohio), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1008 (1997), the Supreme Court of Ohio held that the plaintiff's claim for wrongful discharge in violation of the state whistleblower statute would succeed only so long as he could show that he had fully complied with the requirements of the whistleblower statute itself, see id. at 310 syllabus para. 3. However, the court emphasized that its reasons for so holding depended on its understanding of the legislature's intent in enacting the whistleblower statute; the court did not claim to generalize to other public policies or other statutes. See id. at 322-23. Generally, in order to succeed on a wrongful discharge claim, the plaintiff must show only that a "clear public policy existed and was manifested in a state or federal constitution, statute or administrative regulation, or in the common law"; that "dismissing employees under circumstances like those involved in the plaintiff's dismissal would jeopardize the public policy"; that "[t]he plaintiff's dismissal was motivated by conduct related to the public policy"; and that "[t]he employer lacked overriding legitimate business justification for the dismissal." Id. at 321 (quoting Painter v. Graley, 639 N.E.2d 51, 57 n.8 (Ohio 1994)).
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