The Case Law Firm recently received an order denying summary judgment in a lawsuit filed against an educational institution alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Family & Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), as well as a common law claim for the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The district court correctly ruled that 1) the employee’s request for medical leave to undergo surgery amounted to protected activity, supporting her ADA retaliation claim; and 2) that the employee had provided sufficient evidence suggesting that her termination was retaliatory that she should be allowed to present her case to a jury to consider the claims. That evidence included negative comments from her supervisors and the company’s management regarding her medical leave (including her supervisor’s statement that she was “irked” by the employee’s need to extend the leave), suspicious timing (where the employee was terminated within one month of returning from leave), and the company’s shifting and augmenting justifications for her termination (first stating that she had improperly accessed a confidential file and, later, asserting that she had failed to sign a document and given inconsistent statements during the company’s investigation of the alleged conduct).
We are thrilled that our client will be allowed to pursue her day in court!
