U. S. Supreme Court Invalidates Part of
DOL Regulations under the Family and
Medical Leave Law

The Ragsdale case involved an employee with cancer whose employer had a leave policy that allowed employees to take up to seven months of unpaid sick leave. When the employee took a seven-month sick leave, she was not notified that her leave of absence for sick leave would count as her FMLA leave. When the employee was unable to return to work after the end of her seven-month sick leave, she requested an additional 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the FMLA.

The employee claimed that she was entitled to an additional 12-week leave under the FMLA. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that the DOL regulation is contrary to the statute and was beyond the DOL's authority to impose. The Court said that the regulation's penalty for an employer's failure to provide notice of its FMLA designation to an employee goes beyond what is provided in the statute and is disproportionate with other penalties that are provided in the FMLA's remedies provisions.

Implications of the Court’s Decision

Nothing in the Court’s decision invalidates the requirement that employers must provide notice of an FMLA designation. The Court specifically says it is stating no opinion on this rule. The decision only invalidates the DOL rule that requires employers to provide the FMLA leave as a penalty for failure to provide the designation notice. Other penalty provisions in FMLA may still apply when an employer fails to notify an employee of its designation of FMLA leave. Penalties available under FMLA include money damages to compensate an employee for actual monetary loss due to the violation or for lost wages, benefits etc. An additional punitive money damage may also be imposed under certain circumstances.