Federal Lawsuit Claims CSX Punished Employees for Using FMLA
A federal class action lawsuit filed against Class 1 railroad CSX alleges that CSX wrongfully discouraged workers from taking leave under the Family Medical Leave Act and retaliated against workers who used FMLA leave. According to the complaint, CSX inflated the amount of time employees were charged for FMLA leave, punished them for taking FMLA leave, and terminated or suspended over 100 employees since 2017 on the allegation that they fraudulently took FMLA leave.
U.S. Department of Labor regulations generally require employers to account for FMLA leave using the shortest time period that they use to account for other forms of leave. According to the complaint, CSX accounted for FMLA leave by the day instead of the hour. For example, if an employee took FMLA leave for 4 hours out of a workday, CSX would charge them for the entire day. Worse still, if an employee took leave from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., CSX would charge the employee for 2 FMLA days.
According to federal officials, CSX implemented an attendance policy in 2015 that gives negative points for absences but allows employees to remove those points through subsequent uninterrupted attendance over a specified period of time. The complaint alleges that employees who take FMLA leave during the remediation period are deemed ineligible to reduce their points, meaning employees who have taken FMLA leave are treated less favorably than those who didn’t.
The lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs alleges that CSX’s allegations of fraud by employees were entirely baseless and that workers provided evidence for their entitlement to FMLA leave but were terminated or suspended anyway.
The complaint alleges that all of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit suffer from serious health conditions covered under FMLA. Three of the plaintiffs were fired after CSX accused them of abusing FMLA leave regarding their health conditions. Three others were suspended for five days without pay after being accused of abusing FMLA leave. Another was suspended for 32 days.
Retaliation lawsuits under FMLA
Federal law forbids an employer from retaliating against an employee for taking FMLA leave. In this case, the company is being sued on behalf of several plaintiffs who were fired or otherwise punished by their employer for taking authorized FMLA leave. Even though they had a doctor’s note, the company accused them of fraudulently abusing FMLA to miss time from work. They had no evidence for these allegations. In fact, the evidence indicates that the employees had every right to take FMLA leave when they needed it. They were either fired or suspended anyway. This is a violation of federal law.
Talk to a Tampa, FL FMLA Attorney Today
Have you been fired, suspended, or otherwise retaliated against for taking FMLA leave? If so, you can file suit against your employer and recover damages related to your situation. Call the Tampa FMLA lawyers at Florin Gray today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin investigating your case right away.
Source:
freightwaves.com/news/federal-lawsuit-claims-csx-violated-fmla-anti-retaliation-provisions
