Sabatini and Associates, LLC Attorneys at Law :: Newington :: Hartford :: Connecticut

On an issue of first impression amoung the circuit courts, the First Circuit of Appeals has held that a complete separation of employment for years does not prevent the employee from counting the previous employment toward the FMLA requirement.  To be eligible under the FMLA, an employee must have worked 12 months with the employer.  In this case, the employee had worked for several years with his employer (a car dealership) when he left to take a new job.  Fiver years later, he went back to work for the car dealership.  About seven months after he returned to work, he injured his back and took medical leave.  The dealership then terminated him.  The employee alleged discrimination claiming that the termination violated the FMLA.  The dealership moved to dismiss citing the fact that he had only worked there for seven months.  The Court denied the Motion finding that the months of employment need not be consecutive to qualify under the FMLA and in fact the months worked years ago and can be applied to be eligible under the FMLA.  The case name is Rucker v. Lee Holding, 471 F.3d 6 (1st Cir.2006).  Please be advised that the case is not controlling authority in Connecticut since Connecticut falls outside the jurisdiction of the First Circuit.  The Second Circuit of Court of Appeals has not been presented with this issue to rule upon as of the date of this posting.