An employee who was working on a reduced schedule because of her medical condition, but who repeatedly failed to turn in medical certification forms under the Family and Medical Leave Act despite being warned by her employer, was properly terminated from her position, the Seventh Circuit decides.

Although the Court had concerns about the company’s “unresponsiveness” when the employee asked for more information about her FMLA rights, it decides that this failure did not constitute interference, since the company did provide her with the FMLA forms she needed and “gave her ample opportunity to fulfill its request for additional information from her physician.” The company had issued three corrective action reports to the employee, including a three-day suspension without pay, for not turning in the required FMLA paperwork.

The employer “was entitled to receive [the] additional information, and it demonstrated that it was particularly interested to know the expected duration of her leave,” the Seventh Circuit observes. In addition, her behavior could also have constituted insubordination, the Court says: “The evidence demonstrates that [the employer] terminated [the plaintiff] for repeatedly ignoring its requests to either turn in the FMLA forms or begin working a full schedule. Ignoring repeated requests from a supervisor is insubordination.” Ridings v. Riverside Medical Center