Tony, an employee for a medical clinic, tested positive for COVID-19. At the advice of his physician, Tony is required to quarantine for 14 days. Because he is completely asymptomatic, however, Tony scheduled no visit with his doctor, and no regimen of continuing treatment was prescribed.
Assuming Tony cannot perform any work from home, are Tony’s absences from work during the 14-day quarantine covered by the FMLA?
Your FMLA instincts are screaming out, “Come on, Jeff! There’s no continuing treatment. Tony never went to the doctor, no medicine was prescribed, and he otherwise has no symptoms. This isn’t FMLA leave!”
As the story goes, the medical clinic needed Tony back at work. So, when he was not able to return to work after six days (after reminding his employer of his advised quarantine), the medical practice terminated his employment. He filed an FMLA lawsuit a very short time later.
In seeking to dismiss Tony’s FMLA claims, the employer argued that Tony failed to request FMLA leave and, in any event, didn’t have a serious health condition requiring FMLA leave.
The Ruling
Said the Court: Not. So. Fast.
The court refused to dismiss Tony’s FMLA claims, summing up the situation quite simply this way:
Plaintiff has alleged a request for leave. Defendants did not provide an explanation of any deficiencies in Plaintiff’s request, or allow an opportunity to cure any such deficiencies, as the FMLA regulations require. Plaintiff was fired the day after his request. Therefore, Plaintiff has adequately pled his claims of interference and retaliation under the FMLA
Check out the case here: Payne v. Woods Services Medical Practice Group
Insights for Employers
Let’s not be fooled. If an employee tests positive for COVID-19 — and even if they are asymptomatic — you should recognize this situation as a potential need for FMLA leave. It doesn’t mean the leave of absence is FMLA leave. Ultimately, the medical certification you obtain from the employee will guide you as to whether you should designate as FMLA leave.
So two steps:
When the employee tests positive and must quarantine, even if asymptomatic, send the Notice of Eligibility and medical certification to be completed by the health care provider.
If the employee returns a complete and sufficient medical certification advising of the need for leave from work for the quarantine period, it seems to me that the doctor’s directive along with CDC Guidance (requiring the requisite quarantine period) provide the necessary basis to designate the absence as FMLA leave.
If you fail to recognize these situations as potential FMLA leave, I worry that you fall prey to an FMLA claim just like this medical clinic did.
Jeff Nowak is a Partner at the law firm of Littler Mendelson and has been named as one of Illinois’ top “40 Attorneys Under 40” to watch in 2012. Jeff is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost FMLA and ADA experts, regularly counseling clients on compliance with FMLA and ADA regulations, conducting FMLA/ADA audits and training, and successfully litigating FMLA and ADA lawsuits. Jeff is the author of the highly regarded FMLA Insights blog, which has been selected for four consecutive years by the ABA Journal as one of the top 100 legal blogs (2011-2017) and was also voted the No. 2 Labor and Employment blog by LexisNexis.
The above article first appeared in FMLA Insights and is reprinted with Jeff’s permission.
