OT: 3rd Circuit Ruling Broadens Protection of FMLA

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3rd Circuit Ruling Broadens Protection of FMLA

P. Duffy

09-24-2009

In a ruling that broadens the scope of the _Family and Medical Leave Act_

(http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/) , the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

has ruled that the statute's retaliation provisions may be invoked by

workers who claim they were fired for merely asking permission to take a leave

_Erdman v. Nationwide Insurance Co._

(http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/073796p.pdf)

Lawyers for Nationwide argued that the 3rd Circuit had already decided the

issue in its 2004 ruling in Conoshenti v. Public Service Electric & Gas

Co., which held that the first requirement of a retaliation claim is that the

worker " took an FMLA leave. "