The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refused recently to interpret the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as allowing a federal claim for FMLA interference where the employee had not satisfied the law’s eligibility requirements, even though the employee had met the employer’s more generous leave policy requirements.
The ruling by the appeals court in Muhammad v. Seattle Police Department, No. 14-35370 (9th Cir. Dec. 13, 2016), found that the plaintiff did not satisfy the FMLA’s eligibility criteria because he had not worked at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12-month period. The Ninth Circuit thus concluded that the plaintiff was not entitled to gain any additional rights simply because he qualified under the employer’s more generous leave policy, and that the employer’s leave policy similarly did not create a federal cause of action under the FMLA.
In addition, the Ninth Circuit applied Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) jurisprudence in interpreting the Washington State Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) to conclude that the WLAD does not require an employer to create a light duty position where none exists or extend a temporary light duty assignment indefinitely as a reasonable accommodation.
A copy of the Ninth Circuit’s unpublished decision in Muhammad is available here.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.