Court Rejects Formal FMLA Notice Requirement
In a case that sheds some light on the notice required by an employee to trigger FMLA rights, a federal court ruled in favor of an employee who was fired shortly after he told his employer that he might need time off for heart surgery.
The employee, James Sarnowski, suffers from coronary artery disease. In July 2001, he was hired by Air Brook, a New Jersey limousine company, as a service manager. In June 2002, he received a positive performance evaluation and a raise.
In October 2002, Sarnowski underwent quintuple bypass surgery, which resulted in him missing six weeks of work. Shortly after returning to work, he received a written warning stating that his performance had fallen to unacceptable levels.
In Spring 2003, Sarnowski experienced heart palpitations and was informed that he had four additional blocked arteries. On April 7, he informed his supervisor that he needed to wear a heart monitor for 30 days and that he might need to miss more work time for a second bypass operation.
On April 15 — only eight days later – Air Brook fired Sarnowski for “performance problems.” Sarnowski sued, claiming that his termination violated the FMLA.
The first court to hear the case rejected Sarnowski’s claim because he never made a formal leave request. Sarnowski appealed.
The appeals court ruled in Sarnowski’s favor, finding that the FMLA does not require employees to make formal written requests for leave. The court ruled that employees only need to give “sensible” notice, stating that “an employee must provide his employer with enough information to show that he [or she] may need FMLA leave. ”
Applying that test, the court concluded that Sarnowski gave sufficient notice of his intent to take FMLA leave when he mentioned his need for monitoring and the possibility of a second operation. As a result, he was eligible for the Act’s protections.
The lessons? There are at least three . . .
- Courts generally like to see employers acting “sensibly” and not requiring employees to adhere to hyper-technical legal requirements.
- More specifically, if an employee gives you enough information to “sensibly” indicate that an FMLA leave might be imminent, the safest course is to consider yourself notified.
- Think long, deep and hard before firing an employee who has just informed the company of a serious health condition. Firing an employee who just notified you that he might need a second heart operation shortly after a quintuple bypass might not be a great idea.
