Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Community School
| Decision Date | 17 March 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. C97-3097-PAZ.,C97-3097-PAZ. |
| Citation | 40 F.Supp.2d 1055 |
| Parties | Elina OZOLINS, Plaintiff, v. NORTHWOOD-KENSETT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
Randall Nielsen of Mason City, Iowa, for plaintiff Elina Ozolins.
Joel Yunek of Mason City, Iowa, for Northwood-Kensett Community School District.
I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1057
II. STATEMENT OF FACTS ......................................................... 1058
III. ARGUMENT ................................................................... 1062
A. Did the Plaintiff Properly Request leave under the FMLA? ................ 1062
B. Did the Plaintiff's Mother Suffer from a Serious Health Condition? ...... 1064
C. Did The Plaintiff Prove That The Defendant Retaliated Against Her
Because She Took FMLA Leave? ................................................ 1065
D. Did the Failure of the Plaintiff to Follow the Grievance procedure in the
Collective Bargaining Agreement Deprive this Court of Jurisdiction
under the FMLA Claim? ....................................................... 1066
IV. CONCLUSION .............................................................. 1068
This case arises under the Family Medical Leave Act (hereinafter "FMLA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601-2654 (West 1999). The FMLA, inter alia, allows covered employees to take medical leave to care for a parent with a serious health condition. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(C) (West 1999). The question here is whether the plaintiff was entitled to take leave under the FMLA in February 1997, to care for her ailing mother. The plaintiff claims that she was. The defendant claims that the FMLA does not apply to the facts in the present case because her mother was not suffering from a "serious health condition," and that even if it does, the plaintiff is not entitled to pursue a claim under the FMLA because she did not give proper notice to her employer and did not first exhaust remedies provided by a collective bargaining agreement under which she worked.
On October 1, 1997, the plaintiff, Elina Ozolins ("Elina"), filed a complaint against her employer, the defendant Northwood-Kensett Community School District ("School District"), alleging that in February 1997, she requested leave under the FMLA to care for her ailing mother, that her request was wrongfully denied, that she took the requested leave without the approval of the defendant, and that she was suspended for doing so. She asks for money damages for the salary she lost while under suspension, liquidated damages under 29 U.S.C. § 2617(a)(1)(A)(iii), attorney fees, litigation expenses, interest, and removal from her employee records of all references to the disciplinary action and suspension.
The School District answered the complaint on November 6, 1997, denying any liability under the FMLA and affirmatively alleging that the plaintiff failed to give adequate notice under the FMLA, failed to follow grievance procedures outlined in her employment contract, and that her mother was not suffering from a serious health condition at the time of the requested leave.
Trial before the court was held February 11, 1999, in Mason City, Iowa. The plaintiff was represented by Randall Nielsen. The defendant was represented by Joel Yunek. The matter is now fully submitted.
At the time of trial, the plaintiff, Elina Ozolins ("Elina"), had been a music teacher with the defendant Northwood-Kensett Community School District ("School District") in Northwood, Iowa, for 11 years, dividing her time between the elementary school and the secondary school. Alexandra Ozolins ("Alexandra"), Elina's mother, was 79 years old, and lives alone in Spencer, Iowa. In recent years, Alexandra has been in poor health.
Alexandra was originally from Latvia, and was in the Auschwitz concentration camp before coming to the United States. In February 1994, her husband passed away. By the beginning of 1997, when the incident which is the subject of this lawsuit took place, Alexandra was suffering from a number of health problems, including heart disease with angina (she had had a serious heart attack several years earlier), significant coronary artery disease, colon problems (diverticulitis), ulcers, small strokes (resulting in blindness in her right eye), diarrhea with bleeding, internal hemorrhoids, and a history of back surgery. In addition to her physical problems, she suffered from depression, flashbacks to her concentration camp experiences, and sleep difficulties, (Ex. A.). She also had a recurrent problem with falls.
On Saturday, January 25, 1997, Alexandra was attempting to move a 50 pound bag of bird seed from outside of her house into her garage when she fell on the concrete floor of her garage. The bag landed on top of her, and she suffered a severe bruise on her left hip. At the time of the fall, Alexandra was suffering from a number of stresses in her life in addition to her continuing health problems. She was depressed about her failing health and about the anniversary of the death of her husband. She had a strong attachment to four dogs and a pet goose, and the goose had recently died and one of her dogs was suffering from terminal bone cancer. Her problems were compounded by her reluctance to communicate the seriousness of her condition to anyone out of fear that she would be placed in a nursing home and would lose her independence.
On the days following the fall, Alexandra's condition began to worsen, resulting in severe pain. She could not get up after lying down, and she could not bathe except to wash her face. On Tuesday, January 28, 1997, she finally went to see Ronald Creswell, M.D., her regular treating physician. Dr. Creswell noted that Alexandra suffered from ischemic heart disease with a history of heart attack, diverticulitis, colon polyps, and constipation. He also noted, in an addendum, that she had fallen and injured her hip, and had a hematoma but no fracture.
Although her daughter, Elina, called Alexandra regularly, Alexandra did not tell her about the severity of her problems because of her fear that she would be institutionalized. After school on Friday, January 31, 1997, Elina drove to Spencer to visit her mother, as she did on many weekends.1 When Elina arrived, she found Alexandra lying on a mattress on the floor next to one of her dogs. Elina was alarmed at her mother's condition. She looked as if she had no strength and had not been eating. She also had bags under her eyes and looked like she had been crying. Elina did not believe that her mother was capable of taking care of herself in her condition.
Elina stayed with her mother over the weekend, and noted that her mother's condition worsened. On Sunday evening, Elina attempted to persuade her mother to go to the emergency room, but her mother refused. Instead, Alexandra asked Elina if she would care for her that week. This was unusual, because Alexandra had never before asked Elina to miss work to care for her.
Early Monday morning, February 3, 1997, Elina returned to the School District, planning to teach school that day and then take leave for the remainder of the week to care for her mother. The ordinary procedure for requesting leave was to fill out a form and to present it to the principal of the school where she was teaching that day, who would then transmit the form to the superintendent for consideration. When Elina arrived at the elementary school for her work that day, she immediately went to the office of Julie Hansen, the principal, but found no one there. She could not locate a leave form, so she wrote the following note on a plain piece of paper:
I would like to request the rest of this week to help take care of my mother. She fell Friday — had x-rays — nothing broken2 but is hard for her to walk. Her family doctor is Dr. Ronald Creswell in Spencer, if need of verification.
(Ex. F.) She left this note on the desk of the principal, along with the following additional note:
I wanted to get this request in to you and Mr. McIntire [the superintendent] as soon as I could. If you have any questions — I've got lessons from 10:02 to 11:30. You can get me then. Thanks, Elina.
Later that morning, Hansen took the notes to the School District superintendent, Jerry McIntire. McIntire looked up Elina's leave record and decided that she had already taken too much leave, so he directed Hansen to prepare a note to Elina denying her request. Hansen then typed up a note which stated the following:
I shared your request with Mr. McIntire. It has been decided to deny your request.
(Ex. G.) Hansen attached this note to another note which stated:
Elina, I would like to talk with you, but wanted to get this to you when I could. Julie
Id. Hansen took the notes to Elina, but Elina was busy teaching so Hansen left them on a piano.
After Elina reviewed the notes, she completed teaching her morning classes and went to Hansen's office.3 Elina and Hansen then had a heated conversation. Elina testified to the following version of the conversation. Elina asked Hansen why her request for leave had been turned down, and Hansen responded that Elina had missed too many school days. Elina replied that any days she had taken were allowed under her contract. Hansen replied that Elina's mother's condition was not serious enough to justify the leave. Elina responded by describing, in detail, her mother's condition. Hansen suggested that Elina should put her mother in a nursing home. At that point, Elina became angry and stated that she was entitled to take the leave under the FMLA.4 Hansen said that the FMLA did not apply to Elina, and Elina...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Conrad v. Eaton Corp.
...of incapacity is required for a plaintiff to have a "serious health condition" under the FMLA); Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Cmty Sch. Dist., 40 F.Supp.2d 1055, 1065 (N.D.Iowa 1999). The FMLA defines incapacity as the "inability to work, attend school or perform other regular daily activiti......
-
Whitaker v. Bosch Braking Systems
...employer is liable for any deprivation of the right to take that leave. The employer's intent is irrelevant." Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Cmty. Sch. Dist., 40 F.Supp.2d 1055, 1065 (citing King v. Preferred Tech. Group, 166 F.3d 887, 890 (7th Cir.1999)). Therefore, Defendant is liable for v......
-
Morgan v. Fbl Financial Services, Inc.
...to analyzing this claim. See McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802-04, 93 S.Ct. 1817. Defendants cite Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Comm. Sch. Dist., 40 F.Supp.2d 1055, 1065-66 (N.D.Iowa 1999) in support of their contention. See Ozolins, 40 F.Supp.2d at 1066 (holding that to establish School Di......
-
Thomsen v. WERC
...(6th Cir. 1999); Collins v. Michelin N. America, Inc., 71 F. Supp. 2d 909, 911 (N.D. Ind. 1999); Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Community Sch. Dist., 40 F. Supp. 2d 1055, 1067 (N.D. Ia. 1999); Beason v. United Techs. Corp., 37 F. Supp. 2d, 127, 130 (D. Conn. 1999); Schumacher v. Souderton Are......
-
Family and Medical Leave Act
...gave appropriate notice of her need for medical leave. 12.2 Notice Sufficient 12.2.1 Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Comm. Sch. Dist. , 40 F. Supp. 2d 1055 (N.D. Iowa 1999). Ozolins sued the school district after it suspended her without pay because she took leave to care for her seriously ill......
-
Table of cases
...A. 3:99CV0569L, 2000 WL 655427 at *7(N.D. Tex. May 17, 2000), §§28:2.A.3.a, 28:7.B.3 Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Comm. Sch. Dist ., 40 F. Supp. 2d 1055 (N.D. Iowa 1999), App. 25-2 —P— Pacesetter Corp. v. Barrickman , 885 S.W.2d 256 (Tex. App.—Tyler 1994, no writ), §§3:12.F, 18:8.D.2, 30:12......
-
Family and Medical Leave Act
...gave appropriate notice of her need for medical leave. 12.2 Notice Sufficient 12.2.1 Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Comm. Sch. Dist. , 40 F. Supp. 2d 1055 (N.D. Iowa 1999). Ozolins sued the school district after it suspended her without pay because she took leave to care for her seriously ill......
-
Table of cases
...A. 3:99CV0569L, 2000 WL 655427 at *7(N.D. Tex. May 17, 2000), §§28:2.A.3.a, 28:7.B.3 Ozolins v. Northwood-Kensett Comm. Sch. Dist ., 40 F. Supp. 2d 1055 (N.D. Iowa 1999), App. 25-2 —P— Pacesetter Corp. v. Barrickman , 885 S.W.2d 256 (Tex. App.—Tyler 1994, no writ), §§3:12.F, 18:8.D.2, 30:12......