Opinion ID: 3025030
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Interference with Rights under the FMLA

Text: The FMLA grants eligible employees the right to take up to twelve workweeks of leave in any twelve-month period if a “serious health condition . . . makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the position of such employee.” 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(D). The FMLA also provides that it shall be unlawful for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny an employee’s exercise of or attempt to exercise that right. 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1). In order to assert a claim of interference, an employee must show that he was entitled to benefits under the FMLA and that his employer illegitimately prevented him from obtaining those benefits. See Callison v. City of Philadelphia, 430 F.3d 117, 119 (3d Cir. 2005). Sarnowski claims that Air Brook interfered with his rights under the FMLA by terminating him after learning that he would need medical monitoring and might need another six weeks off for additional heart surgery. The District Court granted summary judgment against Sarnowski on his FMLA interference claim on the ground that Sarnowski was not entitled to benefits under the FMLA because he did not submit a formal request for leave under Air Brook’s FMLA policy. Sarnowski v. Air Brook Limousine, Inc., No. 03-4930, 2005 WL 3479685, at  (D.N.J. Dec. 20, 2005). As a general matter, the District Court was correct that, 6 for Sarnowski to have been entitled to benefits under § 2612(a)(1)(D) for his 2003 heart problems, he must have provided notice to Air Brook of his need for leave. An employee seeking leave under § 2612(a)(1)(D) “shall provide the employer with not less than 30 days' notice, before the date the leave is to begin, of the employee's intention to take leave under such subparagraph, except that if the date of the treatment requires leave to begin in less than 30 days, the employee shall provide such notice as is practicable.” 29 U.S.C. § 2612(e)(2)(B). Sarnowski does not dispute that he was required to provide Air Brook with notice. Rather, the dispute in this appeal is whether the notice Sarnowski did provide was legally sufficient to entitle him to benefits under the FMLA. The regulations provide some guidance as to what sort of notice is sufficient. It is clear that an employee need not give his employer a formal written request for anticipated leave. Simple verbal notification is sufficient: An employee shall provide at least verbal notice sufficient to make the employer aware that the employee needs FMLA-qualifying leave, and the anticipated timing and duration of the leave. The employee need not expressly assert rights under the FMLA or even mention the FMLA . . .. 29 C.F.R. § 825.302(c). See also Manuel v. Westlake Polymers Corp., 66 F.3d 758, 764 (5th Cir. 1995). The issue is whether the employee has “state[d] a qualifying reason for the needed leave.” 29 C.F.R. § 825.208(a)(2). Moreover, the regulations are clear that employees may provide FMLA qualifying notice 7 before knowing the exact dates or duration of the leave they will take. For instance, an employee must “make a reasonable effort to schedule the treatment so as not to disrupt unduly the operations of the employer . . ..” 29 U.S.C. § 2612(e)(2)(A). Thus, an employee who needs medical treatment may inform his employer of his need for leave before scheduling the treatment so as to reasonably accommodate the needs of the employer. Additionally, the 30-day statutory notice requirement is designed to be flexible, and an employee is not required to give greater notice than is “practicable”. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(e)(2)(B). Other courts have interpreted this notice requirement with the liberal construction that is suggested by the text. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that “[t]he right to actually take twelve weeks of leave pursuant to the FMLA includes the right to declare an intention to take such leave in the future.” Skrjanc v. Great Lakes Power Serv. Co., 272 F.3d 309, 314 (6th Cir. 2001). To determine when an employee’s intention to take leave has been sufficiently conveyed to his employer so as to constitute requisite notice under the FMLA, the court found it useful to employ the following test: [T]he critical test for substantively-sufficient notice is whether the information that the employee conveyed to the employer was reasonably adequate to apprise the employer of the employee's request to take leave for a serious health condition that rendered him unable to perform his job. 8 Brenneman v. MedCentral Health Sys., 366 F.3d 412, 421 (6th Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 1146 (2005). This test is nearly identical to one adopted by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: The critical question is whether the information imparted to the employer is sufficient to reasonably apprise it of the employee's request to take time off for a serious health condition. Manuel, 66 F.3d at 764. In providing notice, the employee need not use any magic words. The critical question is how the information conveyed to the employer is reasonably interpreted. An employee who does not cite to the FMLA or provide the exact dates or duration of the leave requested nonetheless may have provided his employer with reasonably adequate information under the circumstances to understand that the employee seeks leave under the FMLA. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals implicitly adopted this position when it stated that “[i]n order to benefit from the protections of the statute, an employee must provide his employer with enough information to show that he may need FMLA leave.” Woods v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 409 F.3d 984, 990 (8th Cir. 2005) (emphasis added). This approach to the notice requirement is a sensible one. It benefits employers if employees are encouraged to apprise their supervisors of an anticipated need for leave. Such openness maximizes’ employers’ ability to plan their staffing needs. 9 Indeed, where courts have found notice to be deficient, it has been because the employee failed to convey the reason for needing leave. See, e.g., Seaman v. CSPH, Inc., 179 F.3d 297, 302 (5th Cir. 1999) (finding inadequate notice where employee never informed his supervisor of a serious medical condition); Brenneman, 366 F.3d at 423-24 (finding inadequate notice where employee did not explain that his absence had been due to a serious medical condition until after the fact); Woods, 409 F.3d at 992-93 (finding inadequate notice where employee expressed that he was stressed and felt his health was at risk but never provided any information to indicate that his absence from work was due to a serious health condition). We have concluded that, when the facts are viewed in the light most favorable to Sarnowski, Air Brook had sufficient notice of Sarnowski’s intent to take leave to bar Air Brook from interfering with Sarnowski’s rights under the FMLA. Sarnowski, a man with chronic heart problems, had missed approximately six weeks of work for quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery. He informed his supervisor of his need for monitoring and possible additional surgery. He was not certain that he would need surgery, but he conveyed what information he had and made it clear to his employer that his health problems were continuing. Eight days later, Sarnowski was terminated. We conclude that, based on the factual record as related by Sarnowski, Air Brook had sufficient notice of Sarnowski’s need for leave to satisfy the notice requirements of the FMLA. In so holding, we make no presumptions about whether Sarnowski’s termination did in fact constitute prohibited 10 interference. First, the parties dispute the precise content of the notice given. It will be for the trier of fact to resolve that dispute. Second, the FMLA does not provide employees with a right against termination for a reason other than interference with rights under the FMLA. See 29 U.S.C. § 2614(a)(3)(B). See also Throneberry v. McGehee Desha County Hosp., 403 F.3d 972, 977 (8th Cir. 2005); Bones v. Honeywell Int’l., Inc., 366 F.3d 869, 877 (10th Cir. 2004); Arban v. West Publ’g Corp., 345 F.3d 390, 401 (6th Cir. 2003). Even if it is ultimately determined that Sarnowski gave legally sufficient notice, he will not prevail on his interference claim if Air Brook can establish that it terminated Sarnowski for a reason unrelated to his intention to exercise his rights under the FMLA.