The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently versed a district court decision granting summary judgment against an employee who claimed she was terminated after taking FMLA leave.

The employee worked as a Financial Analyst for several years, and during that period she sent an email to a vendor that took a defensive and unprofessional tone. The employee's supervisor counseled her and she responded by blaming him for the email she sent and directing him to stop yelling at her. Later that day, the supervisor conducted her performance review, during which time he placed her on a sixty day performance improvement plan ("PIP"). He informed her that she ran the risk of termination if she did not improve her performance and attitude prior to the end of the sixty day period. Several weeks before the end of her PIP, the employee requested and was given leave under the Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") by someone other than her direct supervisor. Her supervisor decided on the same day that he would recommend termination since she had not improved her performance during the PIP period. While out on leave, the employee informed the company that her supervisory had treated her differently because of her race and for exercising her right to use FMLA leave. The employee subsequently returned to work, at which time she was given a negative performance evaluation and terminated.

In concluding that the district court improperly granted summary judgment on the employee's FMLA interference claim, the court reasoned that genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether the employer would have terminated her even if she had not taken FMLA leave where the facts do not unequivocally show that the manager had decided to fire the employee prior to learning that she was taking FMLA leave. The Court also held that genuine issues of material fact exist related to the plaintiff's claim that she was terminated in retaliation for requesting FMLA leave. Because the timing of her request and the manager's decision to terminate was ambiguous, the court concluded that a reasonable jury could infer that the FMLA leave request caused the termination decision. Read more.