Supervisor Liability Under the Family and Medical Leave Act: The Judicially Created Public Official

The 11th Circuit Court ruled that individual public officials cannot be held personally responsible for violating the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This means that if a public official fails to follow the rules of the FMLA, they cannot be sued as individuals. This decision is controversial and goes against the decisions of other courts and previous decisions in the same court. It creates an exception for public officials that is not in the law itself. So, the court said that individual public officials are not “employers” under the FMLA and cannot be personally liable. Rosemary Wascura, former city clerk for the City of South Miami, sued the city and former city commissioners for firing her after she told them she may need time off to care for her son, who had AIDS. She claimed this violated her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The commissioners tried to argue that they couldn’t be held personally responsible, but the court disagreed and said they should have known they were violating the law. The commissioners argued that they shouldn’t be personally responsible for violating the FMLA. They said that other anti-discrimination laws don’t impose personal liability, and the FMLA doesn’t clearly say that individuals can be held responsible. But Ms. Wascura argued that the FMLA is like another law that does impose personal liability, and the commissioners should have known that they could be held accountable. The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed a district court’s decision about individual public officials and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The court held that a county sheriff was not individually liable under the FMLA, based on a previous case. A woman, Ms. Wascura, tried to argue for a rehearing, but her request was denied. The FMLA is similar to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in how it defines an “employer.” The FMLA was based on the principles of the FLSA and not other labor laws. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a law that allows employees to take time off work for specific family or medical reasons. The law applies to employers and their supervisors, who can be held responsible for violating the FMLA. In a court case, it was decided that individual supervisors can be held responsible for firing an employee for taking time off under the FMLA, as long as they had enough control over the employee’s situation. Before the Wascura case, courts had already addressed whether supervisors could be personally liable under the FMLA. Most courts determined that individual liability could apply, based on the similarities between the FMLA and the FLSA. The Wascura court agreed with this reasoning and also looked to the FLSA for guidance in interpreting the FMLA.

The court also decided that public officials are not personally liable as “employers” under the FMLA, based on a previous case called Welch. In Welch, the court had ruled that a county sheriff was not personally liable for violating the Equal Pay Act, which is related to the FLSA. The decision in Welch is what influenced the Wascura court’s ruling on public officials’ liability under the FMLA. The Welch court didn’t follow earlier cases that held individuals responsible for breaking labor laws. They didn’t explain why they didn’t follow these earlier cases. It seems like the Welch decision is different from what is normally done in cases like this. Most courts have ruled that supervisors can be held personally responsible for violating the FLSA if they have enough control over the employee’s job. However, the 11th Circuit did not address this issue in a recent case. They only focused on the fact that the people involved were government officials, even though the laws in question don’t make that distinction. In other courts, public officials have been held personally responsible for breaking labor laws like the FLSA and FMLA. This means they can be sued for violating these laws, just like private companies can be. This was the case in several court decisions before the Wascura case. The 11th Circuit court’s decision in the Wascura case created a distinction between public and private employers, even though the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not make this distinction. The court ruled that public officials cannot be held personally liable for violations of the FMLA, which goes against the intent of Congress. This decision contradicts rulings from other courts and the language of the FMLA itself. It stands alone in its interpretation and creates a new exception to the law.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/supervisor-liability-under-the-family-and-medical-leave-act-the-judicially-created-public-official/