Curtis v. Costco Wholesale Corp.

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Family and Medical Leave Act
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 14-3354
Decision Date: 
November 24, 2015
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment in action alleging that defendant violated plaintiff-employee’s FMLA rights when defendant demoted him shortly after hearing report from plaintiff’s subordinate indicating that plaintiff was going to go on second medical leave to secure his managerial rate of pay due to possibility of future demotion. While plaintiff argued that his message that was relayed to management qualified as protected conduct under FMLA, said message did not qualify as protected conduct, where message did not give management sufficient information regarding duration of proposed leave, timing of leave or his health condition justifying leave. Moreover, defendant could properly conclude that plaintiff was attempting to engage in fraudulent activity, especially where subordinate reported that plaintiff was trying to “scam” defendant, and where plaintiff’s message was uttered during time when plaintiff was subject of many work-related complaints. Also, plaintiff failed to establish viable FMLA retaliation claim, even though defendant refused plaintiff’s transfer request after going on second medical leave of absence, since defendant’s denial did not constitute adverse employment action where plaintiff’s request occurred at time plaintiff had not been cleared to return to work.