Highlands Hospital Corp. v. Preece

323 S.W.3d 357, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 46, 2010 WL 569745
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedFebruary 19, 2010
Docket2008-CA-000371-MR, 2008-CA-000484-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 323 S.W.3d 357 (Highlands Hospital Corp. v. Preece) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Highlands Hospital Corp. v. Preece, 323 S.W.3d 357, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 46, 2010 WL 569745 (Ky. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

THOMPSON, Judge.

Jessica Preece commenced this action in the Floyd Circuit Court alleging that her employer, Highlands Hospital Corporation (HHC), interfered with the exercise of her rights provided under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. § 2615 (FMLA). She also alleged that HHC intentionally inflicted emotional distress. The circuit court granted HHC’s motion for partial summary judgment in regard to the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim but denied HHC’s motion as it applied to the FMLA claim. A jury returned a verdict in favor of Preece, finding that HHC interfered with the exercise of her rights under the FMLA and awarded $35,000 for lost wages. Because the jury also found that HHC acted in bad faith pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 2617(a)(1), the trial court doubled the jury’s award in the amount of $35,000 and awarded $27,000 in front pay.

HHC asserts four issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court improperly admitted the testimony of Mary Jarvis, a former HHC employee; (2) whether the trial court erred when it denied its motion for directed verdict on the basis that prior to her termination, Preece received her entitlement under the FMLA; (3) whether Preece was entitled to double damages and front pay; and (4) whether the jury instructions properly stated the applicable law. In her cross-appeal, Preece raises three errors; however, because we affirm the jury’s verdict, it is only necessary to discuss her assertion that the trial court erroneously granted HHC summary judgment on her claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Because we reject the parties’ arguments, we affirm.

FACTS

Preece began employment with HHC as a Certified Nursing Assistant on July 3, 2000. Her annual salary was $18,969.60, and she worked twelve-hour shifts, including one unpaid hour for lunch. Her regular schedule required that she work three shifts one week followed by four shifts the following week for a total of seven shifts every two weeks.

In April 2004, Preece discovered that she was pregnant and, after several months, began to have physical difficulties attributable to her pregnancy. Because she anticipated that she would require time off work, Preece approached Tamara Clark, the human resources department manager, regarding intermittent family medical leave. At that time, Preece was informed that she had twelve weeks of leave available under the FMLA. However, Preece testified that she was neither told how the twelve weeks would be calculated nor informed that she could use her *361 accumulated vacation and sick days instead of FMLA leave. Further, Clark did not inform her that intermittent leave would be calculated on an hourly basis rather than the days missed. Although there was a poster displayed at HHC that informed employees regarding FMLA leave, it stated only that twelve weeks would be granted and did not detail HHC’s method of calculating the leave period.

After signing the necessary papers, Preece took her initial day of intermittent leave on June 16, 2004, and did so periodically until the birth of her child on October 21, 2004, which according to HHC’s records totaled seventy-seven hours. However, Preece had no means to track the number of days or hours that HHC counted toward her FMLA leave.

Preece testified that after her release from the hospital following the birth of her child, on October 28, 2004, she and her husband went to HHC for the purpose of adding the child to her health insurance policy. At that time, she received a FMLA form from HHC, which she signed. However, when she later received a copy of the signed form in the mail, it stated that her FMLA leave commenced on October 21, 2004, and ended on December 30, 2004. She testified that she was unaware that her FMLA application would be backdated to a week prior to her signature. Based on information Preece allegedly received from Clark, Preece testified that she did not take twelve continuous weeks of FMLA leave and reserved two additional weeks as a contingency following her child’s birth. Preece returned to work on December 30, 2004. Due to a temporary illness, she missed work on January 18, 2005, and on February 15, 2005, was absent because of postpartum depression.

Pursuant to HHC’s policy, excessive absenteeism, excused or not, could lead to disciplinary action, including dismissal. Because prior to taking her FMLA leave Preece had received verbal and written warnings for absenteeism, HHC took the position that Preece’s absences in January and February of 2005 were not covered under the FMLA. Although Preece had seven hours of leave time remaining pursuant to HHC’s leave policy at the time of her last absence on February 24, 2005, Preece was notified that she was terminated from her employment because of excessive absenteeism.

Additional facts will be developed as necessary for our discussion of the issues, including the testimony offered by Tamara Clark and Mary Jarvis, a former HHC employee.

FMLA CLAIMS

The FMLA permits eligible employees of a covered employer to be absent from work for twelve weeks during a twelve-month period for specified reasons, including the birth of a child. Upon return to employment, the employee is entitled to be restored to the same or an equivalent position. 29 U.S.C. § 2614(a). Under the Act, an employee who exceeds the leave time afforded is not entitled to be restored to his or her former position. Austin v. Fuel Systems, LLC, 379 F.Supp.2d 884 (W.D.Mich.2004).

The FMLA provides that it is “unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of or the attempt to exercise, any right provided under this subchapter.” 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1). However, the FMLA does not create a cause of action to enforce voluntary employer practices that exceed its requirements. Dolese v. Office Depot, Inc. 231 F.3d 202 (5th Cir.2000).

If an employee alleges that her FMLA rights were denied, the employee must demonstrate by a preponderance of *362 the evidence that he or she was entitled to leave. King v. Preferred Tech. Group, 166 F.3d 887, 891 (7th Cir.1999). Thus, to prevail on her FMLA interference claim, Preece was- required to establish that: (1) she was an eligible employee; (2) HHC was an employer; (8) she was entitled to leave under the FMLA; (4) she gave notice of her intention to take leave; and (5) HHC denied her FMLA benefits to which she was entitled. Fisher v. Rizzo Bros. Painting Contractors, Inc., 403 F.Supp.2d 593 (E.D.Ky.2005).

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323 S.W.3d 357, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 46, 2010 WL 569745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/highlands-hospital-corp-v-preece-kyctapp-2010.