November 07, 2025
What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You: An FMLA Reminder
Two words HR professionals and employers do not want to hear are, “If only…” If only you had issued the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) notice to the employee, this would not have happened. Ugh!
That’s effectively what the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently held. An employee told his supervisor that his wife was pregnant and asked about the FMLA in the event he needed it for his wife’s pregnancy. The supervisor told the employee he was “moving too fast” and he would not need to inquire about leave until after the child was born. (OOPS!) Three months later, the employee told his supervisors that his wife’s pregnancy was “high risk.” As such, she would no longer be able to work or drive; that he would need to care for her as much as possible; and there would be times when he needed to leave early or miss days to care for his wife. No one informed the employee of his FMLA rights. (OOPS!)
Fast forward. After an odd and twisted sequence of events the company’s employee relations advisor fired the employee for job abandonment and refusing to work overtime based on at least one absence the employee incurred to care for his pregnant and temporarily disabled wife (OOPS!)
Question. Was the employer’s failure to notify the employee of his FMLA rights merely a technical violation of the FMLA and not enough to establish an interference claim? Perhaps not. The court explains, “Had [the employee] used his FMLA leave to which he was entitled, to get home to his wife rather than working overtime, he would not have been fired for failing to work overtime.” Why? Because FMLA leave is job-protected leave. As a result, the 11th Circuit remanded the case to the District Court for reconsideration of the issue.
Wait, there’s more! The employee’s lawsuit also included a claim of discrimination under the ADA based on his association with a person, his wife, with a disability. The court rejected that claim but who wants to go through two trials to “win” on one claim?!
Lessons Learned
- Train your managers, employee relations, and HR team members! This is a great example of how important it is for these key stakeholders to understand FMLA and ADA basics. Give them bells and whistles. Listen for requests related to not just the employee’s own medical issues but those related to caring for a family member, or someone for whom your employee associates, like next of kin or even a neighbor.
- Time is limited. The employer has just five (5) business days to issue the FMLA Notice of Eligibility to an employee. That’s five days from the day you knew or should have known that the employee may need FMLA-covered leave. Then subsequent notice obligations may follow.
- It’s not just FMLA & ADA. Remember that even if the time off is not covered under the FMLA, or constitutes a reasonable accommodation under the ADA, it might still be covered under a state or local leave law.
