Townsel v. Missouri

Decision Date13 November 2000
Docket NumberNo. 99-3873,99-3873
Citation233 F.3d 1094
Parties(8th Cir. 2000) Regenia G. Townsel, Appellant, v. State of Missouri, Appellee. Submitted:
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Before RICHARD S. ARNOLD, HANSEN, and BYE, Circuit Judges.

RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

Regenia Townsel appeals the District Court's 1 adverse grant of judgment on the pleadings in her suit under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) against her former employer, the State of Missouri.2 We affirm.

Upon de novo review of the record before us, see Porous Media Corp. v. Pall Corp., 186 F.3d 1077, 1079 (8th Cir. 1999), and consideration of the parties' submissions on appeal, we conclude that the District Court properly dismissed Plaintiff's FMLA claim against Defendant as barred by Eleventh Amendment immunity. See Chittister v. Department of Community and Econ. Dev., 226 F.3d 223, 228-29 (3d Cir. 2000) (legislative scheme of FMLA is not congruent or proportional to any identified constitutional harm; noticeably absent from legislative history is finding that sick-leave practices in public employment amount to intentional gender discrimination in violation of equal protection; FMLA provisions do not represent valid exercise of Congress's power to enforce Fourteenth Amendment and therefore FMLA does not abrogate Eleventh Amendment immunity); Kazmier v. Widmann, 225 F.3d 519, 527-29 (5th Cir. 2000) (section of FMLA allowing leave for plaintiff's own "serious health condition" does not effectively abrogate states' Eleventh Amendment immunity; FMLA "prohibits substantially more state employment decisions than would likely be held unconstitutional under the applicable equal protection, rational basis standard" (quoting Kimel v. Florida Bd. of Regents, 120 S. Ct. 631, 647 (2000)); Sims v. University of Cincinnati, 219 F.3d 559, 566 (6th Cir. 2000) (FMLA is not valid exercise of Congress's power under Section Five of Fourteenth Amendment); Hale v. Mann, 219 F.3d 61, 69 (2d Cir. 2000) (Congress did not have authority to abrogate sovereign immunity under provisions of FMLA at issue (provisions for medical leave to deal with one's own serious health condition)); Garrett v. University of Ala. At Birmingham Bd. of Trustees, 193 F.3d 1214, 1219 (11th Cir. 1999) (same), cert. granted,3 120 S. Ct. 1669 (2000); Cohen v. Nebraska Dep't of Admin. Servs., 83 F. Supp. 2d 1042, 1045 (D. Neb. 2000) (of circuits and district courts to consider issue since 1998, all have concluded that Congress lacked power to abrogate states' immunity from suit under FMLA).

The key point is that the FMLA makes illegal a great deal of conduct not even arguably prohibited by the Fourteenth Amendment, and provides for remedies a great deal more extensive than the Fourteenth Amendment could even arguably require. Accordingly, we hold that the FMLA is " 'so out of proportion to a supposed remedial or preventive object that it cannot be understood as responsive to, or designed to prevent, unconstitutional behavior.' " Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents, supra, 120 S. Ct. at 647, quoting City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 537 (1997). The enactment of the FMLA cannot fairly be said to be an exercise of Congress's power to "enforce . . . the provisions of" the Fourteenth Amendment, in a way authorized by 5 of...

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16 cases
  • Hibbs v. Dept. of Human Resouces
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • 11 de dezembro de 2001
    ...pursuant to a valid exercise of Congress' section 5 power. Laro v. New Hampshire, 259 F.3d 1, 11 (1st Cir. 2001); Townsel v. Missouri, 233 F.3d 1094, 1096 (8th Cir. 2000); Chittister v. Dep't of Cmty. & Econ. Dev., 226 F.3d 223, 229 (3d Cir. 2000); Kazmier v. Widmann, 225 F.3d 519, 526, 529......
  • O'Reilly v. Montgomery County, Cause No. 1:02-cv-1242-DFH as JUDGE (S.D. Ind. 2/24/2003)
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana
    • 24 de fevereiro de 2003
    ...Laro v. New Hampshire, 259 F.3d 1, 16-17 (1st Cir. 2001); Lizzi v. Alexander, 255 F.3d 128, 135 (4th Cir. 2001); Townsel v. Missouri, 233 F.3d 1094, 1095-96 (8th Cir. 2000); Chittister v. Dep't of Community and Economic Development, 226 F.3d 223, 228-29 (3d Cir. 2000); Sims v. University of......
  • Bylsma v. Bailey
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama
    • 22 de janeiro de 2001
    ...Amendment immunity under the FMLA as a whole. See Sims v. The University of Cincinnati, 219 F.3d 559 (6th Cir.2000); Townsel v. Missouri, 233 F.3d 1094, 1095 (8th Cir.2000). The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, however, when addressing whether Congress validly abrogated the states' immuni......
  • Brockman v. Wyoming Dept. of Family Services
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit
    • 4 de setembro de 2003
    ...(4th Cir.2001) (the self-care provisions of the FMLA do not contain a valid abrogation of state sovereign immunity); Townsel v. Missouri, 233 F.3d 1094, 1095 (8th Cir.2000) (no section of the FMLA contains a valid abrogation of state sovereign immunity), overruled in part by Hibbs, ___ U.S.......
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8 books & journal articles
  • Survey of Eighth Circuit Employment Decisions
    • United States
    • Creighton University Creighton Law Review No. 34, 2000
    • Invalid date
    ...Id. (citing Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452, 470 (1991)). Consistent with this view, the Eighth Circuit held, in Townsel v. Missouri, 233 F.3d 1094, 1096 (8th Cir. 2000), that the FMLA does not validly abrogate Eleventh Amendment immunity for actions brought against the state. The Eighth ......
  • Family and medical leave act
    • United States
    • James Publishing Practical Law Books Texas Employment Law. Volume 1 Part V. Discrimination in employment
    • 5 de maio de 2018
    ...the states’ Eleventh Amendment insulation from federal litigation. 7.1.1.5 Eighth Circuit 7.1.1.5.1 Townsel v. State of Missouri , 233 F.3d 1094 (8th Cir. 2000). Townsel appealed the district court’s summary judgment dismissal of her FMLA claims against the State of Missouri. The Eighth Cir......
  • Family and Medical Leave Act
    • United States
    • James Publishing Practical Law Books Archive Texas Employment Law. Volume 2 - 2014 Part V. Discrimination in employment
    • 16 de agosto de 2014
    ...the states’ Eleventh Amendment insulation from federal litigation. 7.1.1.5 E IghTh C IRCuIT 7.1.1.5.1 Townsel v. State of Missouri , 233 F.3d 1094 (8th Cir. 2000). Townsel appealed the district court’s summary judgment dismissal of her FMLA claims against the State of Missouri. The Eighth C......
  • Table of cases
    • United States
    • James Publishing Practical Law Books Archive Texas Employment Law. Volume 2 - 2014 Part VIII. Selected litigation issues
    • 16 de agosto de 2014
    ...South Padre Island v. Jacobs, 736 S.W.2d 134, 144 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 1986, writ denied), §29:4.C.2 Townsel v. State of Missouri , 233 F.3d 1094 (8th Cir. 2000), App. 25-2 Townsend-Taylor v. Ameritech Services, Inc., 523 F.3d 815 (7th Cir. 2008), §25:6.C.1 Towns v. NE Miss. Elec. Powe......
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