{"id":33194,"date":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/fmla-requires-reinstatement-even-when-reinstatement-constitutes.html"},"modified":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","slug":"fmla-requires-reinstatement-even-when-reinstatement-constitutes","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/human-resources\/fmla-requires-reinstatement-even-when-reinstatement-constitutes.html","title":{"rendered":"FMLA Requires Reinstatement Even When Reinstatement Constitutes An Undue Hardship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The federal court of appeals in Boston has ruled that an employer is required under the FMLA to reinstate an employee following leave, even if such reinstatement would constitute an undue hardship under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).<\/p>

In Watkins v J&S Oil Company, Inc.<\/i> (1998) a gas station manager suffered two heart attacks in three months and took two FMLA leaves during his recovery. Three weeks into the employee's second leave, his employer, which operated three gas stations within a 75-mile radius, informed the employee that he had been replaced. The employer and employee had two more discussions regarding the employee's possible return to work before his leave expired. Each time, the employer made clear to the employee that his former job as a gas station manager was no longer available. The employee made equally clear that he was not interested in accepting a lesser job. As a result, the employer considered the employee a voluntary quit.<\/p>

The employee sued under the FMLA and the ADA. On the ADA claim, the trial court ruled that the employer was not required to provide leave and hold the employee's job open for an indefinite period of time because to do so posed an undue hardship for this employer. The court of appeals affirmed dismissal of the employee's ADA claim.<\/p>

On the FMLA claim, the court ruled the employer was required to reinstate the employee to his former job or to an "equivalent" job. Equivalent meant "substantially equal or similar, not necessarily identical or exactly the same." Since the employer never offered the employee a similar job, the court affirmed a jury verdict in the employee's favor.<\/p>

The court noted the different results but observed that the employee's case involved "separate and distinct statutory claims" each of which had different burdens of proof. Under the FMLA, the employer was required to restore the employee to his former or equivalent position which the employer failed to do. Under the ADA, this employer was excused from reinstating the employee because the accommodation requested, i.e.,<\/i> indefinite leave, was not reasonable.<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The federal court of appeals in Boston has ruled that an employer is required under the FMLA to reinstate an employee following leave, even if such reinstatement would constitute an undue hardship under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). In …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"corporate_categories":[6487,6486],"class_list":["post-33194","corporate","type-corporate","status-publish","hentry","corporate_categories-human-resources__employment-laws","corporate_categories-human-resources"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate\/33194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/corporate"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"corporate_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate_categories?post=33194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}