Court Opinion

ID: 9569543
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:14:45.959568+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:03:25.453200
License: Public Domain

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
The opinion of the court accurately sets forth the framework adopted by this circuit for analyzing claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and I agree that the district court’s judgment should be affirmed under that approach. I therefore concur in the opinion of the court. The analytical framework used by our circuit, however, deviates from the text of 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a), and it would be preferable to bring our analysis in line with the statutory language.
Our cases say that there are two types of claims under the FMLA: “(1) ‘interference’ or ‘(a)(1)’ claims in which the employee alleges that an employer denied or interfered with his substantive rights under the FMLA and (2) ‘retaliation’ or ‘(a)(2)’ claims in which the employee alleges that *914the employer discriminated against him for exercising his FMLA rights.” Ante, at 909 (quoting Stallings v. Hussmann Corp., 447 F.3d 1041, 1050 (8th Cir.2006)) (citing 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1)-(2)); see also Darby v. Bratch, 287 F.3d 673, 679 (8th Cir.2002). By its terms, however, subsection (a)(2) does not apply to claims in which an employee “alleges that the employer discriminated against him for exercising his FMLA rights.” Rather, that subsection makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge or otherwise discriminate against any individual “for opposing any practice made unlawful by [the FMLA].” 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(2) (emphasis added). This prohibition is analogous to the sort of “retaliation” claim that is familiar under Title VII, see 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a), where an employee alleges that the employer discriminated against the employee for opposing what the employee reasonably believed to be violations of Title VII by the employer. E.g., Barker v. Mo. Dep’t of Corr., 513 F.3d 831, 834 (8th Cir.2008); see 29 C.F.R. § 825.220(e); 60 Fed.Reg. 2180, 2218 (Jan. 6, 1995) (“[The FMLA] makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any individual for opposing any practice made unlawful by the Act. This opposition clause is derived from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is intended, according to the legislative history, to be construed in the same manner.”). Some courts properly have applied § 2615(a)(2) in this manner. E.g., Gruppo v. FedEx Freight Sys., Inc., No. 08-1006, 2008 WL 4596332 (10th Cir. Oct.15,2008); Cline v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 144 F.3d 294, 301-02 (4th Cir.1998).
Jamila Phillips asserts that her employer discharged her because she exercised her rights under the FMLA. This claim does not arise from any alleged opposition to a practice made unlawful by the FMLA, and it therefore should not be governed by § 2615(a)(2). The Department of Labor, however, has determined that the FMLA prohibits an employer from discriminating against employees or prospective employees who have used FMLA leave. 29 C.F.R. § 825.220(c). Several courts have thought this regulation is a reasonable interpretation of § 2615(a)(1), which makes it unlawful for an employer “to interfere with, restrain, or deny” the exercise of any right under the FMLA. See Conoshenti v. Pub. Serv. Elec. & Gas Co., 364 F.3d 135, 146 n. 9 (3d Cir.2004); Bachelder v. Am. W. Airlines, Inc., 259 F.3d 1112, 1122-24 (9th Cir.2001); Hodgens v. Gen. Dynamics Corp., 144 F.3d 151, 160 n. 4 (1st Cir.1998); see also Potenza v. City of New York, 365 F.3d 165, 167-68 (2d Cir.2004) (per curiam) (discussing two approaches under § 2615(a)(1) for analyzing employees’ claims that they were punished for exercising their rights under the FMLA).
The termination of an employee for exercising rights under the FMLA could be viewed as actionable under § 2615(a)(1) as a denial of the employee’s right under 29 U.S.C. § 2614(a) to be restored to an equivalent position upon return from FMLA leave. Cf. Bryant v. Dollar Gen. Corp., 538 F.3d 394, 401 (6th Cir.2008). Or, because “attaching negative consequences to the exercise of protected rights surely ‘tends to chill’ an employee’s willingness to exercise those rights,” Bachelder, 259 F.3d at 1124, at least in the case of an employee who retains employment and suffers negative consequences, there seems to be a textual basis for finding “interfere[nce] with” or “restrain^]” on the future exercise of FMLA rights. As a textual matter, the application of this “chill” theory is more difficult in the case of an employee who is terminated, but if a retained employee can proceed on this basis under § 2615(a)(1), then it would be odd to conclude that a terminated employee is entitled to lesser protection simply because the employer took the more drastic step of denying him or her the opportu*915nity to exercise future FMLA rights altogether. In any event, the appellees do not dispute that this type of claim is available under the FMLA, and treating the claim under § 2615(a)(1) is more appropriate than invoking the opposition clause of § 2615(a)(2).
When the entirety of Phillips’s case is analyzed under 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1), the judgment of the district court should be affirmed. Our analysis in Part II.A concludes that even without regard to the employer’s intent, ante, at 910-11, and with the burden of proof shifted to the employer, ante, at 911, the appellees are entitled to summary judgment on a claim of interference under § 2615(a)(1), because the undisputed facts demonstrate that Phillips was discharged for reasons unrelated to the FMLA. This analysis also dictates a rejection of Phillips’s claim, discussed in Part II.B, that the appellees terminated her because she exercised her rights under the FMLA. Therefore, with these additional views, I concur in the opinion and judgment of the court.