Opinion ID: 621802
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Turner’s Medical Leave

Text: Turner took medical leave from interim employment at Clark Regional Medical Center because of pregnancy complications and postpartum recovery from October 28, 2005 through June 25, 2006. Jackson Hospital contends that, because the leave exceeds the leave required by the Family and Medical Leave Act and any additional leave allowed by Jackson Hospital’s own leave policies and its past application of its leave policies, Turner’s medical leave would have resulted in her termination, thus ending Jackson Hospital’s liability for back pay. The administrative law judge did not address Jackson Hospital’s medical leave defense. The Board considered this defense and concluded that Turner is not entitled to No. 10-2101 NLRB v. Jackson Hospital Corporation Page 7 back pay during the leave period but that the leave itself did not relieve Jackson Hospital of further liability for back pay. This leave exceeded the twelve weeks of leave legally protected by the Family and Medical Leave Act. To determine whether Jackson Hospital would have terminated Turner once her leave exceeded twelve weeks, the Board examined Jackson Hospital’s leave policy and considered testimony from David Bevins, Jackson Hospital’s former CEO. The Board determined, Jackson Hosp. Corp., 354 N.L.R.B. No. 42 at 4-5, that though “there are material tensions between Bevins’s testimony and [Jackson Hospital’s] written leave policy” and neither the written policy nor Bevins’s testimony clearly addresses the procedures, conditions, or possible duration of [Family and Medical Leave Act] leave extensions or the use of personal leaves to supplement [Family and Medical Leave Act] or other leave, the record does not preclude the possibility that Turner may have been eligible for an extended leave that could have lasted for as long as her incapacity, and thus for reinstatement upon obtaining medical clearance. Jackson Hospital points to Bevins’s testimony that Jackson Hospital had never retained an employee who took medical leave for eight months. While that may be true, Jackson Hospital’s written leave policy does not foreclose the possibility of an eightmonth leave. As the Board notes, the written policy leaves open the possibility that an employee could extend her leave by either extending her leave under the Act or by taking a “personal leave of absence.” Though the written policy is not clear on all points, the burden rests with Jackson, and not Turner, to prove that Jackson Hospital would have refused to reinstate Turner because of her medical leave. The Board concluded that Jackson Hospital did not meet this burden. We find that substantial evidence supports this conclusion, and that the Board did not abuse its discretion in fashioning its Order on this point.