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Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
Quick Summary: An employee who uses family medical leave must be restored to the employee’s old position upon return, unless the employer is unable to restore the employee to the old position due to non-discriminatory factors unrelated to the employee’s choice to exercise the legal rights afforded by the Family Leave Act.
When she was ready to return to work from an approved medical leave of absence, a licensed practical nurse was informed by the head of human resources that her old position had been upgraded and now had to be filled by a full-time RN. This change was part of the hospital’s efforts to work out compliance with Joint Commission standards, by increasing the overall percentage of nursing work done in the institution by RN’s as opposed to LPN’s.
The LPN was nevertheless offered other on-call LPN work at the hospital and a full time LPN position at an affiliated nursing home across the street. She refused the full time nursing home position, provisionally accepted on-call LPN work at the hospital, then quit and filed suit. Her suit alleged the hospital had violated the state’s Family Medical Leave Act.
The Supreme Court of Maine ruled that the hospital had not violated the state’s Family Medical Leave Act. Barker vs. Medical Center, 663 A. 2d 44 (Maine, 1995).
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