The Family and Medical Leave Act continues to present vexing issues for employers and their counsel. A few years ago, I wrote about an employee who was terminated after returning from an extended stay in Jamaica, ostensibly to care for a sick family member, where she had previously been denied vacation for roughly the same period of her alleged FMLA leave. In Erdman v. Nationwide Ins. Co., the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals addressed an FMLA claim where an employee was terminated after requesting a two-month FMLA leave of absence over the summer in order to prepare her mentally challenged daughter for school. She had previously been told that her request for vacation for that period would likely be denied.
FMLA When Vacation Denied
Brenda Erdman worked for Nationwide from 1980 until May 2003. For some of that time, Erdman worked four days a week until early 2003 when her part-time position was eliminated. When she returned to full-time work, she sought “clarification” that Nationwide would honor her previously approved request for vacation during the entire month of August, which she had typically taken to prepare her daughter (with Down syndrome) for school, according to the opinion. Nationwide advised Erdman that it was unlikely that she would be allowed to take vacation in August because of the number of employees who typically request vacation during that month, the opinion noted. When advised of this, Erdman stated that she would request FMLA leave instead.
