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Date: 09-26-2022
Case Style:
Case Number: 21-4093
Judge: Holmes, Bacharach and Phillips
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on appeal from the District of Utah (Salt Lake County)
Plaintiff's Attorney:
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Salt Lake City, Utah civil rights lawyers represented Plaintiff who sued Defendant on a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601–54.
This statute prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for taking FMLA leave. 29 U.S.C.
§ 2615(a)(2). We may assume for the sake of argument that the prohibition
would ordinarily apply when an employer adopts an immediate
supervisor’s recommendation to fire an employee for taking FMLA leave.
With that assumption, we must decide whether the prohibition would apply
when the employee obtains consideration by independent decisionmakers.
Retaliation entails a causal link between an
employee’s use of FMLA leave and the firing. That causal link is broken
when an independent decisionmaker conducts her own investigation and
decides to fire the employee.
Outcome: Affirmed.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: