Nineteen years ago President Bill Clinton signed into law the Family and Medical Leave Act (2/05/1993). This bill has continued to be a source of confusion and discussion since that time. As an employer, are you confused yet? Well, you’re about to become a bit more confused. Yes, FMLA is under attack once again.
Under FMLA, employers have to provide employees up to 12 weeks to recover from a serious medical condition. Well now the feds are saying that state agencies/colleges are exempt. What?
Daniel Coleman was an employee of the Maryland Court of Appeals. He requested leave under FMLA to care for his own serious medical condition and was fired. Of course he sued. The Supreme Court (in a ruling of 5 to 4), ruled that state agencies and state colleges can’t be sued by employees for violating the self-care provision of FMLA. A constitutional rule says “states, as sovereigns, are immune from suits for damages.” (I believe the term is sovereign immunity.) The only exception is in cases that involve unconstitutional treatment, including discrimination.
To bypass the sovereign immunity rule, and open states up to FMLA “self-care” lawsuits, Congress “would have to show that it passed the provision to protect individuals from a pattern of discrimination that was created as a result of state policies.”
Eight years ago, the state of Nevada made a similar argument. William Hibbs was fired after taking FMLA to care for his ailing wife. At that time the Supreme Court ruled that FMLA was enacted by Congress under its Fourteenth Amendment to address unconstitutional discrimination. And, it did not cover states in the area of family care.
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