FMLA Class Action Civil Suit

The FMLA Class Action Civil Suit!

Since this website was initiated in September, 2001, I always felt that there was a possibility that an FMLA Class Action Civil Suit in Federal District Court would be possible. It would have been a separate action from the EEO FMLA Class Action complaint which was certified on April 1, 2003 and it is currently in the Office of Federal Operations on appeal.

In July of 2003, the class attorneys for the EEO class complaint indicated that they would be willing to undertake a class action civil suit against the USPS on issues of FMLA. Since then, they have had hundreds of personnel express their interest, and the class attorneys received a similar response for documentation from the interested personnel.

After a review of the documentation, and discussion with a number of the interested personnel, the class attorneys conceded that it was not a feasible option to initiate a National Class Action Suit regarding FMLA. They then focused on personnel in the Colorado/Wyoming District.

Now, the class attorneys have concluded that a Federal Class Action FMLA civil suit involving just Colorado/Wyoming District personnel is also not a feasible option. After conferring with the class attorneys, I have found that their decision was based on the following reasons:

Expiration of the Statute of Limitations--The statute of limitations is normally two years, and in extreme circumstances, three years. The personnel contacted exceeded one, or the other, of the limitations.

Moot point because issues resolved by grievances--Most of the personnel contacted filed grievances with their various unions. A settlement of issues via the grievance/arbitration process precludes damages via a civil settlement.

Limited or no monetary damages involved--The FMLA precludes any kind of compensatory damages. The only damages allowed are actual monetary damages. This type of damages is nominal, very minimal, or non-existent.

Incomplete FMLA packets--A majority of the personnel contacted did not have complete FMLA packets. This is an unfortunate set of circumstances, but the USPS has relied on peoples attitudes to pursue their course of actions, and, in quite a few cases, the courts would view in favor of the USPS because it is the individuals responsibility to insure the packets are complete.

In view of the above, initiation of a class-action under FMLA statutes is a dead issue, at least by the class attorneys of the EEO class action. The EEO class action itself will proceed should the Office of Federal Operations rule in favor of the Class. I am confident that they will, but nothing is set in stone, and they could rule against the class.

I apologize if this effort lead to false hopes, but the decision was made after careful and full deliberation of the facts, and the possibilities in pursuing the case. I appreciate peoples efforts in trying to help get this initiated, and I hope that this decision does not preclude anyone from pursuing the matter on their own.

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Updated on: August 04, 2007 10:02:50 AM

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