FMLA QUIZ: WHO IS RIGHT AND WHO IS NOT?
Here are the facts of a 2015 MSPB decision in an adverse action suspension case. See if you remember the right answer.
The employee left the office the morning of September 5 due to debilitating stomach cramps, making it to his car with the help of some of his colleagues and then driving far enough to get off post, where he parked until his cramping subsided. He then drove the short distance remaining to his home, where he went straight into a dark room he uses when he has a strong migraine and collapsed. Two days later he notified his supervisor that he left the office unannounced due to an urgent health need on September 5 and requested intermittent FMLA leave on an emergency basis to cover the absence. He also asked that the absence be compensated via a request for advance credit hours. The supervisor refused to approve the request for advance credit hours and charged him with AWOL because he failed to request and receive leave approval before departing the office on September 5, as required by the agency’s leave instruction The two-day delay was unacceptable. The agency maintained that, because the appellant was able to drive himself home and to call his daughter, he was therefore able to give notice before he left the office that morning and, because he did not do so, he was AWOL. It then suspended him for 30 days. Do you believe the suspension should be upheld or overturned? Continue reading →
