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Medley v. Polk Co.

Defendant in Family Medical Leave Act case entitled to "Honest Belief Defense" jury instruction that employer not liable under FMLA if employer honestly believed that employee had abandoned job or misused leave time, even if employer mistaken.

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The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion.

In 1999, plaintiff, Vickie R. Medley, had, for two years, been an at-will employee of defendant Polk Company in Denver, Colorado as an assistant to Sheri Paul. When she came to work on the morning of October 2, 1997, there was a phone message from her mother in Nebraska that her father had had a heart attack. Medley informed Paul and said that she was immediately leaving the office to drive to Nebraska, which she did the next day. Some two and a half weeks later, under a set of facts, many of which were undisputed, Polk, acknowledging that her father had had a heart attack and surgery on October 7, concluded that thereafter Medley had, as a practical matter, abandoned her job and discharged her on that ground. Medley brought suit alleging that her termination was a violation of her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. � 2601 et seq. (hereafter “FMLA”). That Act provides for up to 12 weeks leave for an employee who is needed to “care for…[a] parent [who] has a serious health condition[,]” � 2612(a)(1)(C), coupled with the obligation on the employee to get from the parent’s doctor a certification of the need. Medley, aware of this, took no steps to obtain the required certification. (See infra).

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