On March 9, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an employer-friendly decision in Anderson v. Nations Lending Corporation. Despite some facially bad facts—including that the employee was discharged only four days after returning from leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and subject to a supervisor’s comments about her being “sick a lot”—the court affirmed summary judgment in favor of the employer. The case underscores the long-standing legal principle that an employer may discharge an employee if the employee would have been discharged regardless of having taken leave.
In January 2017, Nations Lending Corporation (NLC) hired Tracy Anderson to work as a pre-fund underwriting auditor. Throughout her first year of employment, Anderson exhibited performance deficiencies in her work. Though Anderson never received formal discipline or counseling for her actions, her supervisor provided her with ongoing training.
After utilizing her available sick time for extended leave from October 2017 to January 2018, Anderson returned to work, but her performance continued to suffer. In January 2018, Anderson’s supervisor questioned her about additional performance issues discovered while she was out. Anderson could not provide much detail regarding her errors. Although Anderson promised to be more meticulous, her supervisor created a spreadsheet to keep track of her performance issues in February 2018 after discovering yet another...
GB News presenter Alex Armstrong and right-wing social media commentator Bernadette Spofforth have apologised and paid substantial damages to Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali after falsely sug...