Employment — FMLA

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Civil

Employment — FMLA

An employee is entitled to summary judgment on her FMLA claim, even though she never informed her employer how much time off she needed to care for her daughter.

“Foreseeable leave is governed by 29 C.F.R. §825.302, which directs employees to tell their employers how much leave they need and adds that an employer must inquire further if an employee’s statement is inadequate. 29 C.F.R. §825.302(c). We discuss the notice system of §825.302 in Righi v. SMC Corp., 632 F.3d 404 (7th Cir. 2011). (To be more precise, Righi discusses the 2006 version. Section 825.302 and related regulations have since been amended. The 2009 version applies to Gienapp and the 2013 version to current applications. These amended regulations supersede Righi to the extent of any differences.) But Gienapp’s application is covered by §825.303, which deals with unforeseeable leave. And §825.303, unlike §825.302, does not require employees to tell employers how much leave they need, if they do not know yet themselves.”

Reversed and Remanded.

14-1053 Gienapp v. Harbor Crest

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kapala, J., Easterbrook, J.