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U.S. Master™ Wage-Hour Guide, 2009 Edition 
Presents a first approach to the broad and complex controls under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and other statutes regulating employee wages and hours.
A married couple, who were both fired as a result of the denial of their retroactive applications for FMLA leave and who had records of absenteeism, failed to show that their terminations violated the FMLA, ruled the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In so holding, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the couple's claims. (Townsend-Taylor v Ameritech Servs, Inc, 7thCir, 91 EPD ¶43,180)
The husband claimed he missed an initial 20-day deadline for filing his certification form (regarding time off for care of a sick child) because he had given his child's doctor a certification form with his wife's name and social security bar code information pre-printed out in it rather than his own. The Seventh Circuit rejected the husband's assertion that the employer's failure to warn employee's that the certification forms could not be interchanged constituted interference with his FMLA rights, finding that there was nothing misleading about the form. Moreover, the court rejected his claim that the employer should have given him more time beyond an additional 15-day deadline to cure the deficiency, concluding that he had a "reasonable opportunity" to do so and the employer was not required to do more.
The wife, who missed work due to her own back illness, missed the initial 20-day filing deadline because she waited 12 days to submit the form to her doctor, who took 9 days to complete it. She failed to justify the delay during an additional 15-day period in which she was given to establish extenuating circumstances. The Seventh Circuit found that although the employer's response was harsh, the wife had a history of failed attempts to justify absences as being authorized by the FMLA and the employer "was not required to exhibit more patience than the law and its own rules required."
For more information on this and other topics, consult CCH Employment Practices Guide or CCH Labor Relations.
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