Denying a hotel defendant’s motion for summary judgment, an Ohio court will require the defendant to face the music at trial on a plaintiff’s FMLA claim. Robinson v. Hilton Hospitality, Inc., S.D. Ohio, No. 04-00092, 2/28/06). In this case, after the plaintiff did not show up for work, another employee allegedly told the employer that the plaintiff had been hospitalized because of a “nervous breakdown.” After the plaintiff was transferred to the mental health unit of another hospital, her employer sent her flowers—a kind gesture your mom would be proud of.
However, the gesture did not serve this employer well. Notice under the FMLA is a tricky thing--the court found that the employer’s get-well gift raised a question of fact as to whether the employer had sufficient notice as to the plaintiff’s need for FMLA-qualifying leave. In other words, because the employer knew enough to send flowers to a hospital, there was an issue of the employer’s knowledge of the employee’s serious medical condition.
The moral of the court’s decision is clear--no good deed goes unpunished. The other moral: when it comes to notice under the FMLA, there are no exact reporting rules. If an employer has enough information to know to send flowers (clearly indicating illness), chances are it’s on notice that the employee may require FMLA leave time.