Hoffman v. Professional Med Team, 03-1995.

• Decision Date: 07 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-1995.,03-1995.
• Citation: 394 F.3d 414
• Parties: Lynn HOFFMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PROFESSIONAL MED TEAM, A Michigan Corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

394 F.3d 414

Lynn HOFFMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PROFESSIONAL MED TEAM, A Michigan Corporation, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 03-1995.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: September 24, 2004.

Decided and Filed: January 7, 2005.

ARGUED: Henry L. Guikema, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellant. Lori L. Gibson, Warner, Norcross & Judd LLP, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee.

ON BRIEF: Henry L. Guikema, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellant. Lori L. Gibson, Sarah M. Riley, Warner, Norcross & Judd LLP, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee. Ann E. Reesman, McGuiness, Norris & Williams, LLP, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae.

Before: SILER, BATCHELDER, and ROGERS, Circuit Judges.

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

During her employment as an emergency medical technician at Professional Med Team ("PMT"), Plaintiff-Appellant Lynn Hoffman was diagnosed with migraine headaches. PMT originally granted Hoffman intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601-2654; however, a conflict later developed over whether a medical certification form adequately documented Hoffman's need for leave. This dispute led to heated exchanges between Hoffman and her supervisor, in which Hoffman used profanity. PMT dismissed Hoffman, citing the profanity as the reason for her termination. More than two years after all relevant events, Hoffman sued, alleging that PMT interfered with her assertion of FMLA rights in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1), when it denied her application for leave. Hoffman also alleged that PMT terminated her employment because of retaliation in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(2). Hoffman bore the burden of proving that PMT violated the statute willfully in order for her claims not to be time-barred. After a bench trial, the district court found that PMT was reasonable in rejecting Hoffman's request for leave, and that it did not willfully discriminate against her based on FMLA grounds when it discharged her. Therefore, Hoffman's claims were barred by the statute of limitations. Because the district court did not commit clear error in rejecting either Hoffman's § 2615(a)(1) interference claim or her § 2615(a)(2) retaliatory discharge claim, we affirm.

Hoffman developed migraine headaches in 1993 or 1994, after more than five years as a PMT emergency technician specialist. The medication Hoffman must take to relieve her migraines causes extreme drowsiness, and she cannot work while taking the medication. Because the headaches are unpredictable, it is difficult to accommodate her condition through advance scheduling. She worked the same forty-eight-hour-week schedule throughout her time at PMT, despite being afflicted with migraines for approximately half of her tenure there. For at least one year prior to November 1997, Hoffman received FMLA intermittent leave for her migraines, because her family doctor, David Deitrick, had certified that they constituted a serious health condition.

In November 1997, PMT notified Hoffman that her doctor's previous certification contained an inconsistency, and PMT therefore required an updated form.¹ On December 4, 1997, Hoffman returned to Deitrick; she had filled out the certification form in advance, and Deitrick read and approved the contents and signed it. The written responses on the form indicated that Hoffman had "recurrent migraine headaches lasting 1 to 5 days" (question 4), and that the migraines "will cause intermittent short term disabilities" (question 5.a).² Most critically, Hoffman and her doctor answered "NO" to the question, "Will it be necessary for the employee to take work only intermittently or to work on a less than full schedule as a result of the condition...?" (question 5.b).

After consulting with its attorney, PMT declined to accept the certification. Hoffman's supervisor, Tim Schmiedeknecht, wrote her a letter stating that it appeared her "Medical Leave of Absence would be covered by the FMLA," but that the form contained a contradiction: it "states your condition will require intermittent short term disability ..., yet ... you answer `no' to the question must work less than a full schedule. (These points seem contradictory.)"³ PMT returned the form to Hoffman, requesting that she correct it by February 13, 1998. Hoffman and Deitrick agreed that the form was accurate as originally completed; they refused to revise the answers.⁴ PMT sent Hoffman another letter on March 26, 1998, stating that, because Hoffman had not corrected her certification form, the company considered her application for FMLA leave canceled.

In October 1998, Hoffman missed several days of work because of a migraine. Schmiedeknecht sent Hoffman a letter registering his concern over the "increasing frequency" of her absences and questioning whether the migraines were interfering with her job duties. The letter required Hoffman to submit to a fitness-for-duty medical examination before returning to work. Hoffman complied, and the doctor found her fit for work without restrictions. When Hoffman visited Schmiedeknecht's office on October 7, 1998 to submit the doctor's note, she waved the note in Schmiedeknecht's face and told him to "quit fucking with [her]."⁵

The next day, Hoffman was not scheduled to work, but she went to the office to pick up her paycheck. She found that she had not been paid for the seventy-two hours of missed work. Hoffman went to Schmiedeknecht's office to object. Again, she told Schmiedeknecht to "quit fucking with [her]" and to "leave [her] alone." Schmiedeknecht ordered Hoffman to leave the building. PMT suspended Hoffman's employment that day. On October 21, 1998, PMT terminated Hoffman's employment, effective October 8, 1998. The termination letter cited four violations of the company's work rules: unprofessional conduct while working, discourteous conduct toward other employees, use of obscene language toward other employees, and violation of the company's anti-violence policy.⁶

Hoffman filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan on January 2, 2001, more than two years and two months after PMT terminated her employment. The complaint avers that PMT interfered with Hoffman's rights pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1) when it refused to grant her FMLA leave in October 1998, and that PMT discriminatorily discharged Hoffman in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(2) because she opposed PMT's denial of FMLA leave. The complaint avers that both violations were willful. The complaint also alleges discrimination pursuant to Michigan's Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act ("PWDCRA").

The district court granted PMT's September 28, 2001 motion for summary judgment on Hoffman's PWDCRA claims.⁷ It denied summary judgment on Hoffman's FMLA claims, however, finding that genuine issues of fact existed as to whether PMT willfully violated the Act. After a two-day bench trial in January 2003, the district court held that Hoffman failed to prove PMT willfully violated the FMLA either when it denied Hoffman's request for leave or when it discharged her. Accordingly, the district court deemed Hoffman's claims time-barred. Hoffman v. Prof. Med Team, 270 F.Supp.2d 954, 967 (W.D.Mich.2003). On July 3, 2003, the district court denied Hoffman's motion for reconsideration. Hoffman timely appealed.

The court's factual findings with regard to both interference and retaliatory discharge, following a bench trial, may not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). Hoffman was clearly required to show willfulness in order to get the benefit of the FMLA's extended three-year statute of limitations for willful violations. 29 U.S.C. § 2617(c)(2) (2001). The district court did not err in concluding that PMT did not willfully disregard its FMLA obligations. Further, the court did not err in holding that legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons motivated PMT to discharge Hoffman.

First, with regard to the interference claim, the standard for willfulness under the FMLA extended statute of limitations is whether the employer intentionally or recklessly violated the FMLA. The Supreme Court has so interpreted the term "willful" in the double damages provision of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), Trans World Airlines, Inc. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 128-29, 105 S.Ct. 613, 83 L.Ed.2d 523 (1985), and in the more closely analogous statute-of-limitations provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). McLaughlin v. Richland Shoe Co., 486 U.S. 128, 133, 108 S.Ct. 1677, 100 L.Ed.2d 115 (1988). We have accordingly applied the same interpretation to the FMLA in a well-reasoned, albeit unpublished, opinion. Williams v. Schuller Int'l, Inc., 29 Fed.Appx. 306, 2002 WL 193929, at *3 (6th Cir. Feb.5, 2002). A review of the record shows that there was no clear error in finding that PMT neither intentionally nor recklessly violated the FMLA.

The FMLA provides up to twelve work weeks of leave to employees who experience family health-related emergencies or who, because of a serious health condition, are unable to perform the functions of their positions. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1). A "serious health condition" is one that involves either inpatient treatment in a hospital or continuing treatment by any health care provider. Id. § 2611(11). The FMLA recognizes that chronic illnesses, causing only episodic incapacity, may comprise serious health conditions. 29 C.F.R. § 825.114(a)(2)(iii)(C) (2004). Three kinds of leave are available to employees with a serious health condition: (1) one block of leave of twelve weeks or fewer; (2) intermittent leave, which means "leave taken in separate periods of time due to a single illness or injury ... and may include leave of periods from an hour or more to several weeks"; and (3) reduced leave schedule, a plan under which the employer reduces the employee's normal work hours, usually to a part-time basis. 29 U.S.C. §§...