Mar 22 2012
In a 5-to-4 decision, the justices said states are generally immune from suits by employees who are refused time-off to recover from an illness.
The Washington Post: Supreme Court Rules That States Can't Be Sued For Denying Workers Medical Leave
States are generally immune from lawsuits seeking monetary damages, and the court's conservative majority said in a 5 to 4 decision that the restriction should apply when the issue at stake is the sick-leave provisions in the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (Barnes, 3/20).
NPR: Justices Limit State Liability Under Medical Leave Act
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states cannot be sued for money damages for failing to give an employee time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to recover from an illness. The vote was 5 to 4 with no legal theory commanding a clear majority (Totenberg and Chen, 3/20).
The Associated Press: Court Says State Can't Be Sued Over Sick Leave
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states cannot be sued under the Family and Medical Leave Act for refusing to give an employee time off to recover from an illness. One justice said the decision "dilutes the force" of the law that allows millions of working Americans time off to care for sick family members or to have children. The high court refused to let Daniel Coleman sue the Maryland state Court of Appeals for damages for firing him after he asked for sick leave, blaming Congress for not equating family care and self-care when lawmakers wrote the Family and Medical Leave Act (Holland, 3/20).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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