However, he argued that his conversation with his supervisor about his need to take leave for his MÃ©niÃƒÂ¨re’s disease was sufficient to place SCI on notice that he was invoking FMLA protection. In particular, SCI’s employee handbook states that an employee must contact the company’s Leave and Disability Center.Įverson acknowledged that he didn’t follow the policy and never mentioned the FMLA by name during his discussions with his supervisor. SCI argued that Everson never invoked any rights under the FMLA because he didn’t comply with its policy for requesting FMLA leave. To prove an FMLA interference claim, an employee must show that he notified his employer of his intent to take FMLA leave and the employer denied him the leave benefits to which he was entitled. Judge Campbell dismissed Everson’s FMLA claims on summary judgment (i.e., without a trial). Everson decided that he would accept the termination over his own dead body and sued SCI.Ĭlaiming he was really fired for requesting the leave, Everson brought interference and retaliation claims under the FMLA as well as discrimination, failure to accommodate, and retaliation claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The company stated that it fired him for failing to refrigerate an unembalmed body. Two days after that conversation, SCI fired Everson.

His supervisor responded: “That’s fine, whatever time you need.”

In January 2015, he asked his supervisor for permission to take a week off work later that month to undergo a third procedure. Everson suffers from Ménière’s disease-an inner ear disorder-and was allowed to take off work in 20 to undergo treatment procedures.

Ommer Everson served as general manager of a funeral home in Goodlettsville owned by SCI Tennessee Funeral Services. In one of his first rulings from the bench, Judge Campbell dismissed an employee’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) interference and retaliation claims because the employee failed to follow the notice requirements in the employee handbook. We have a new federal judge here in Middle Tennessee named William (Chip) Campbell. This article was first published on ’s Tennessee Employment Law Letter by Butler Snow’s David L.

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