The Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") stipulates that covered employers must provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for certain family care and medical reasons, including to care for the employee's new child whether by birth, adoption or foster-care placement. The most frequently litigated issue under the FMLA is the question of whether the employee's health condition qualifies as a "serious health condition" under the Act. In the first case brought under the FMLA based on gender discrimination, a federal jury in Maryland recently awarded a man $375,000 in compensatory damages because his employer refused to allow him to take a parenting leave as provided by the statute because he was the baby's father, not the mother.
In Knussman v. Maryland, the jury decided that the Maryland State Police improperly refused to grant a paramedic, Kevin Knussman, extended family leave to help care for his newborn daughter. Knussman was required to return to his assignment eleven workdays after his daughter's birth, despite the fact that his wife suffered a difficult childbirth and was having trouble caring for their daughter. The reason given to Knussman for denying the leave was because "God decided only women can give birth."
Also at issue in the case was a Maryland State law that allowed state employees, who were the "primary caregivers" and who had primary responsibility for a newborn or newly adopted child, to use up to 30 days of earned sick leave as family leave. The FMLA does not have this same "primary caregiver" limitation. Knussman had accrued over 250 hours of annual and personal leave and requested four to eight weeks of paid leave. Knussman's supervisors contended that he was not and could not be entitled to leave under the Maryland law because only women can be primary caregivers since only they can breast feed. The jury found for Knussman, despite the Maryland State Police's assertion that any discrimination was unintentional.
This case highlights the importance of being familiar with current statutory employment law. In addition to awareness of the more widely known anti-discrimination statutes such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C. § 621, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101, employers must be aware of the proper application of laws such as the FMLA. If we may be of assistance in answering questions about this case, or other aspects of the FMLA, please feel free to contact us by telephone or e-mail as set forth below.
The information provided herein is for general guidance on matters of interest only. While every effort has been made to ensure the information provided herein is accurate and timely, no decision should be made or action taken on the basis of information without first consulting an Epstein Becker & Green professional.
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