Employee May be Legally Fired While on Unofficial Medical Leave

 

October 9, 2017

 

Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit answered the question “can an employer terminate an employee currently on medical leave if the motivation for the firing is distasteful but still unrelated to the medical leave? The case is Mullendore v. City of Belding, No. 16-2198, 2017 U.S. App. Lexis 16310 (6th Cir. Aug. 23, 2017).

 

Margaret Mullendore was the city manager of Belding, Michigan. Belding's city council has been described as being “fraught with political drama.” Mullendore found herself at the center of the drama after she fired a city police officer who was later reinstated. When the officer was reinstated, it sparked criticism of Mullendore's decision to fire him.

 

In November 2014, one of Mullendore's supporters on the city council lost their re-election bid to a candidate who had already openly criticized Mullendore. The new city council member pushed for a change in the city's administration and quickly sent an email to the rest of the council to advocate for Mullendore's termination. Mullendore was an at-will employee whose employment could be terminated at any time by a vote of the city council.

 

Soon after, Mullendore was forced to take time off of work due to an ankle injury that was severe enough to require surgery. Mullendore told the city of her need for time off, and the city provided Mullendore with a laptop so she could work from home after her surgery. Mullendore stated that she would not seek medical leave and declined to fill out FMLA paperwork. Mullendore's reasoning was that she wasn't going to be out for very long and would be able to work from home.

 

During the next council meeting, while Mullendore was not present, the new council member moved to terminate Mullendore's employment, even though the motion was not on the agenda before the meeting and Mullendore was not present to defend her record. The motion passed.

 

Following the termination, Mullendore sued, alleging violations of FMLA by the City and the City Council members. This suit brought up two key questions:

 

1) Had Mullendore invoked her FMLA rights or whether she was simply taking an informal medical leave?

2) Was the actual reason for termination an FMLA protected leave?

 

The district court ruled for the city, saying Mullendore did not properly invoke FMLA rights, and there was no evidence that the city had an illegal motive in firing Mullendore.

 

The 6th Circuit determined that there was no evidence that the City had an illegal motive, and the nature of the leave should be determined on a factual basis. The 6th Circuit had to answer the question, “Was the protected conduct or protected status of the employee the actual reason for the adverse employment action?”

 

Mullendore argued that since the action occurred while she was on leave, she was clearly fired because of her leave. The City argued that timing isn't everything, and further argued that the councilmember had mentioned Mullendore's termination prior to the meeting where she was terminated. The Court decided that although it was easier for the Council to fire Mullendore when she wasn't present, that fact alone does not make the termination illegal. Following this logic, the Court determined that the protected status was not the actual reason that Mullendore was fired, and as a result Mullendore's termination was not illegal.

 

Editor's Note:

Although the timing of the firing in this case was suspicious, with Mullendore being fired while she was out due to an injury, suspicious timing is not enough to prove an FMLA violation. Also, this case highlights the fact that although a company may have a really bad reason for firing someone, it does not make it an illegal action. As long as an employer does not fire a person because of his or her protected status or for exercising protected rights, the firing is legal under the FMLA.