Willis v. Coca Cola Enterprises, Inc.

• Citation: 445 F.3d 413
• Decision Date: 31 March 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-30047.,05-30047.
• Parties: Jennifer Cross WILLIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COCA COLA ENTERPRISES, INC., doing business as Alexandria Coca Cola Bottling Company Ltd., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

445 F.3d 413

Jennifer Cross WILLIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COCA COLA ENTERPRISES, INC., doing business as Alexandria Coca Cola Bottling Company Ltd., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 05-30047.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

March 31, 2006.

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Daniel E. Broussard, Jr. (argued), Broussard, Bolton, Halcomb & Vizzier, Alexandria, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Karen Marie Smith (argued), Philip Bradford Byrum, Miller & Martin, Chattanooga, TN, for Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Before REAVLEY,^* GARZA and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.

EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge.

Jennifer Cross Willis ("Willis") appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment to defendant, Coca Cola Enterprises, Inc. ("CCE"), on her claims of interference with her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., and gender discrimination, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C § 2000e et seq.

I

Willis had been employed by CCE since 1994, holding several jobs within the company until she reached her final position as a Senior Account Manager. On a Monday in May of 2003, Willis called her supervisor to let him know that she was sick and would be unable to come to work that day. She also informed him that she was pregnant, but did not specifically articulate that she was sick because of the pregnancy. The next day, a Tuesday, she called her supervisor to find out where she should report to work, and her supervisor informed her that she could not come back to work until she had secured a medical release from a doctor. She told him that she had a doctor's appointment on "Wednesday." While she evidently meant the following Wednesday — more than a week later — her supervisor took her to mean the next day. She did not call in again, and had no contact with CCE until the Thursday of the following week, when two employees came to her home to reclaim her company car. At that point, she contacted CCE and was eventually brought in for a meeting where she was informed that she had violated the company's "No Call/No Show" policy. Under this policy, "an employee absent from work for three consecutive days without notifying the supervisor during that period will be considered to have voluntarily resigned." Her employment was then terminated.

Willis brought suit under the FMLA, Title VII, and various Louisiana state statutes. The district court granted summary judgment to CCE on the FMLA claim, holding that Willis had not introduced any evidence that she was requesting medical leave pursuant to the FMLA. Indeed, her desire to return to work indicated that she was not requesting medical leave. The district court dismissed as "post hoc reasoning" Willis's argument that she was on FMLA leave because her supervisor did not permit her to return to work until she had secured a medical release. Additionally, the district court held that Willis had not established that CCE's stated reason for firing her was pretextual, and therefore, in violation of Title VII. Her discrimination claim under Louisiana law was identical to her claims under Title VII and the court therefore granted summary judgment to CCE on the state claims as well.

II

We review a grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same standards as the district court. Condrey v. SunTrust Bank of Ga., 429 F.3d 556, 562 (5th Cir.2005). Summary judgment is proper only when the movant can demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Federal Insurance Co. v. Ace Property & Casualty Co., 429 F.3d 120, 122 (5th Cir.2005). "We construe all facts and inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party when reviewing grants of motions for summary judgment." Murray v. Earle, 405 F.3d 278, 284 (5th Cir.2005).

A

On appeal, Willis argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment to CCE on her FMLA claim. Specifically, she argues that CCE was aware that she had requested time off due to sickness, possibly related to her pregnancy, which therefore could be considered a "serious health condition" under the FMLA. 29 C.F.R. § 825.114(a)(2)(ii). She asserts that she was placed on "involuntary FMLA leave" because she was not permitted to return to work until she had secured a doctor's certification. Because she was fired while on this involuntary leave, Willis argues that CCE interfered with her rights under the FMLA.

The appellee asserts that Willis provided inadequate notice to CCE of her need to take FMLA leave. See 29 C.F.R. § 825.208(a)(1) ("An employee giving notice of the need for unpaid FMLA leave must explain the reasons for the needed leave so as to allow the employer to determine that the leave qualifies under the Act."); Satterfield v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 135 F.3d 973, 980 (5th Cir.1998) ("While an employer's duty to inquire may be predicated on statements made by the employee, the employer is not required to be clairvoyant.") (quoting Johnson v. Primerica, 1996 WL 34148, at *5 (S.D.N.Y.1996)). Because Willis did not explicitly link her sickness with her pregnancy, CCE avers that it was given inadequate notice of a serious health condition and that it could not have placed Willis on FMLA leave without this notice.

The FMLA allows eligible employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for "a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the position of such employee." 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(D). "In all circumstances, it is the employer's responsibility to designate leave, paid or unpaid, as FMLA-qualifying, and to give notice of the designation to the employee. . . ." 29 C.F.R. § 825.208(a). "An employee giving notice of the need for unpaid FMLA leave must explain the reasons for the needed leave so as to allow the employer to determine that the leave qualifies under the Act." Id. at 825.208(a)(1). It is not necessary for the employee to "expressly assert rights under the Act or even mention the FMLA" in order to put the employer on notice of her need for leave. Id. at 825.208(a)(2). This circuit, while declining to issue any "categorical rules" for the type of notice given by an employee, has stated that: "[t]he critical question is whether the information imparted to the employer is sufficient to reasonably apprise it of the employee's request to take time off for a serious health condition." Manuel v. Westlake Polymers Corp., 66 F.3d 758, 764 (5th Cir.1995).

This case defies the conventional pattern for FMLA claims. Willis does not suggest that she requested FMLA leave and that CCE then interfered with, restrained, or denied her rights under the Act. See 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a). Rather, Willis asserts that she was placed on "involuntary leave" when her supervisor refused to permit her to return to work until she had gotten a medical release and then, while she was on this mandated FMLA leave, fired her for non-compliance with the leave policy of the company. To complicate matters, CCE denies that it ever placed Willis on involuntary FMLA leave, thereby forcing Willis to assert her FMLA rights from an unusual posture: at the time Willis stopped coming to work, she denied that she needed leave, but now, enmeshed in litigation, Willis asserts that she was on FMLA leave.

We therefore must consider a novel question for this circuit: what constitutes involuntary FMLA leave and what are the parties' rights and obligations pursuant to this type of leave. As a threshold matter, it is not contrary to the FMLA for an employee to be placed on "involuntary FMLA leave." See Megan E. Blomquist, Note, A Shield, Not a Sword: Involuntary Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, 76 Wash. L.Rev. 509, 510 (2001).¹ In a 1995 advisory opinion, the Department of Labor stated:

an employer can count an absence for sickness or injury as an FMLA absence if the employee does not request that it be counted as such. So long as the employer is a covered employer, the employee is an eligible employee, and the reason for the absence meets one of the conditions described in the definitions of "serious health conditions" under FMLA, the employer may designate (and so advise the employee) and count the absence against the employee's 12-week FMLA entitlement even if the employee has not requested that it be counted as such.

99 Wage & Hour Manual (BNA) 3067, Op. FMLA-68 (July 21, 1995). See also Tate v. Farmland Ind., Inc., 268 F.3d 989, 998 (10th Cir.2001) (noting that the involuntary nature of the leave does not render an employee unable to assert rights under the FMLA); Moss v. Formosa Plastics Corp., 99 F.Supp.2d 737, 741 (M.D.La.2000) ("[T]here is nothing in [the FMLA] or jurisprudence which prevents an employer from placing an employee on unpaid leave."); Love v. City of Dallas, 1997 WL 278126 (N.D.Tex.1997) (unpublished) (observing that "[e]mployers who force employees to take unpaid leave under the FMLA are really only: (1) placing the employee on involuntary leave, and then (2) giving the employee the option of availing him or herself of the benefits of the FMLA during the first 12 weeks of such leave").

In an unpublished opinion, the Sixth Circuit discussed what pre-requisites must be met before involuntary leave can be designated FMLA leave. See Hicks v. Leroy's Jewelers, Inc., 225 F.3d 659, 2000 WL 1033029, *4 (6th Cir.2000) (unpublished). Citing prior district court opinions, the court observed that the FMLA's implementing regulations allow an employer to place an employee on involuntary FMLA leave so long as the employee is eligible "by virtue of having taken a qualified absence from work." Id. The court went on to state, "of course, [the employer's] decision to place [the employee] on `involuntary' FMLA leave could not be upheld if it were determined that her hospital stay was not a qualifying...