Should this employee have been demoted after FMLA?
June 29, 2010 by Christian SchappelPosted in: Employment law, FMLA, In this week's e-newsletter - benefits, Latest News & Views, Pay and benefits, Who won?
Take a look at this case and decide for yourself whether or not you think this employee should’ve been demoted.
A manager, who’d been disciplined in the past for her brash management style, took FMLA leave to have a baby.
While on leave, productivity and morale improved noticeably in her department. Her interim manager also discovered that she had ignored numerous expense reports and failed to pay invoices from outside creditors.
Result: When she returned, the company gave her the option of quitting or being demoted.
The employee accepted the demotion, then immediately turned around and sued the company. She claimed the company never would’ve discovered her deficiencies if she hadn’t taken FMLA leave. Therefore, according to her, the company demoted her because she took leave.
Who won?
The decision
The company countered that it would’ve taken disciplinary action against the employee no matter when it discovered her misconduct — and the court agreed.
It found no fault with the employer for demoting her.
Takeaway: An employer is permitted to discipline a worker on leave, as long as it can prove that it has substantial business reasons for doing so.
Cite: Schaaf v. SmithKline Beecham Corp.
Tags: court, creditors, dicipline, FMLA, invoices, Leave, morale, productivity
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June 29th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Though the appearance of when the action taken could leave “lifted” eyebrows, this is an example of making sure you have good documentation: document, document, document to support your actions. The only thing of question in my mind is why the supervisory personnel did not catch this level of job performance prior to FMLA was taken.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:49 pm
wow, I am surprised the company won without a prior paper trail before her FMLA leave. I am thinking of all the times employees found other employees mistakes while that employee was out for an extended period of time, that means anyone on leave that may have not done their job properly could be demoted when they get back. Very interesting…
July 1st, 2010 at 2:20 pm
CB, It actually says that she was disciplined before for her brashed management style. Once she was on leave, morale and productivity improved noticeably in her department.