The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

144 | the essential guide to family and medical leave
Lessons from the
Real World
An employee’s statement to her employer that she needed
time off because she “didn’t feel good” and needed
“a couple days to get better” didn’t put her employer on
notice that she suffered from a serious health condition.
Shortly before Jill Beaver was scheduled to return from an approved vacation
to her job at RGIS Inventory Specialists, Inc., she called in and reported to her
supervisor that she was ill, “she didn’t feel good,” and her doctor had ordered
her not to fly or return to work for “a couple of days, a few days.” RGIS
viewed Beaver’s extra time off as unauthorized and fired her. Beaver sued
RGIS for terminating her while on FMLA leave.
The court sided with RGIS because Beaver hadn’t provided sufficient
information to alert her supervisor that the FMLA applied to her leave.
Beaver’s statements to her supervisor were too general for her supervisor to
conclude that she might have suffered from a serious health condition.
Beaver v. RGIS Inventory Specialists, Inc., 144 Fed. Appx. 452 (6 th Cir. 2005).
Because there’s no hard and fast rule about whether the FMLA applies
when an employee gives you very little information about the need for leave,
it’s best to take a cautious approach. That means designating any possibly
FMLA-qualified leave request as FMLA leave subject to withdrawal if further
inquiry shows that the leave isn’t covered.
Tip
When in doubt, preliminarily designate the leave as FMLA and inquire
further. You can withdraw the designation if your inquiry doesn’t support
FMLA coverage.
How you treat an employee for purposes of other types of leave or benefits
may serve as evidence that you had notice that the employee suffered from a
serious health condition. After all, if you know the employee is qualified for
parenting leave or disability leave, for example, you know enough to find out
whether the FMLA applies.