Lexology (03/28/12) R. Michelle Tatum

In the case of Thom v. American Standard Inc., the Sixth
Circuit affirmed a partial summary judgment for an employee’s
Family and Medical Leave Act interference claim because the
employer did not inform him of the method used to compute his
FMLA leave and ruled that the employee was entitled to double
compensatory damages because he was terminated in bad faith.

Employees are entitled to 12 work weeks of FMLA leave during any
12-month period, and employers can choose from four methods to
compute the leave: the calendar year; any fixed 12-month
“leave year,” such as a fiscal year or the year
beginning with the employee’s anniversary date; the 12-month
period from the start date of the employee’s first FMLA
leave; or a rolling 12-month period measured backward from the
date of any FMLA leave. Employees can use whatever option is most
beneficial to them if their company does not state which method
it uses. Companies must provide 60 days’ notice before
implementing their method of choice, and they should distribute a
written policy and have employees sign it. They should consider
employees already on FMLA leave or those who requested leave
during that 60-day period, permitting them to use a more liberal
way to compute leave but indicating how subsequent leave requests
will be handled.