When her son got seriously ill in January, Tracy Jordan knew he needed to rest – but convincing his employer as his medical leave progressed was another matter.
“My son was fighting for his life and his employer wouldn’t believe him. My son did nothing wrong; he was simply sick and couldn’t go to work,” she said.
The Family and Medical Leave Act was enacted to protect workers like Jordan’s son, Jerron Brown. When employers and employees meet their responsibilities under the law, workers can take time off work to care for themselves or their loved ones, keep their health insurance, and then return to their jobs without fear of retaliation.
But there are times, unfortunately, when employers don’t comply with the law. That’s where the Wage and Hour Division comes in.
While Brown was taking time off to deal with his illness, his employer fired him. Brown knew his leave was protected by the FMLA, so he contacted the Wage and Hour Division.
“Beverly Kennedy-Holmes took my complaint. The agency’s response was really fast,” Brown said. “Teresita Camacho called me as soon as the case was assigned to her. I thought it was really nice that Ms. Kennedy-Holmes also called to see how I was doing after I filed the complaint.”
Camacho led an investigation of Brown’s employer, Publix Super Markets Inc., a national grocery store chain. The investigation found multiple FMLA violations, including the illegal firing of Brown. As a result of these violations, we recovered over $12,000 in back...
Although on appeal the court distinguished that there was new information in the claim, the court ultimately found the new information was not material, nor was it plead with particularity. The U....