Takeaway: Employers can specify the means by which employees must provide notice of their need to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Written policies specifying permissible forms of notice, however, will not limit employees from using other methods if supervisors accept them in practice.
A supervisor who permitted notification of leave requests through Facebook Messenger may have made that a customary notice mechanism, despite the company having a call-in policy, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, allowing Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claims to proceed.
The plaintiff worked on the assembly line at Gestamp, a multinational auto-parts manufacturer with a South Charleston, W.Va., facility. Gestamp maintains written attendance and leave policies requiring that employees notify their group leader via a call-in line at least 30 minutes before their shift begins if they will be late or absent.
Each employee receives a card with the call-in number, and the number is posted on a company bulletin board. If an employee misses three consecutive shifts without calling in, Gestamp will consider the employee to have abandoned the job and will terminate the worker.
In June 2019, the plaintiff underwent an emergency appendectomy. While at the hospital, the plaintiff sent his group leader a Facebook message notifying him of the situation. Before this surgery, his group leader had messaged him on the app to communicate about an unrelated infection...
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