A former Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. employee who claims she was retaliated against and eventually terminated for taking time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act will have to overcome a major hurdle: proving the alleged discrimination.

Tina Marie White filed suit May 3 against the Springfield-based insurance giant in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. In her suit, White claims her supervisors treated her differently and disciplined her each of the four times she took an FMLA leave of absence for various ailments over a nine-year period.