Is faith healing a legitimate reason for taking FMLA leave?
A worker was canned by her employer after she tried to take seven weeks of FMLA leave to accompany her very sick husband on a trip to the Philippines.
Her husband suffered from heart and kidney problems among several other ailments. They said their reason for the trip was so that he could attend a Catholic faith healing ministry, which he did. But the couple also visited family and friends.
After her termination, the employee sued her employer for violating her FMLA rights. Did she win?
Not even close
A court ruled her employer was justified in terminating her.
While the court said an employee is permitted to take FMLA leave to provide direct psychological support for a family member who is receiving medical treatment, that’s not what happened in this case.
Almost half of the couple’s trip was spent visiting friends and family.
The judge said: “FMLA does not permit employees to take time off to take a vacation with a seriously ill spouse, even if caring for the spouse is an ‘incidental consequence’ of taking him on vacation.”
In other words, vacations with ill family members can’t count as a legitimate reason for an employee to take FMLA leave — even if the employee is there to care for a family member.
Had the judge ruled in favor of the employee, it could’ve set a precedent in which employees only had to establish a loose health-related reason to take a trip and have the time off count as FMLA leave.
Cite: Tayag v. Lahey Clinic Hospital, Inc.
