Medical-Leave Representations In Employee Handbook May Have Created Contractual Right To Equivalent Of FMLA Leave
Steven Peters suffered a shoulder injury while he was employed by Gilead Sciences, Inc. He took a relatively short medical leave to have corrective surgery, and when his condition did not improve after returning to work, he took another leave. During his second absence, Gilead filled his position with another employee, and when Peters returned to work, Gilead offered him a different position. He declined and Gilead terminated his employment.
Peters filed suit against Gilead, alleging a violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), and a claim for promissory estoppel under Indiana law. Gilead moved for summary judgment on the FMLA claim, arguing that Peters was ineligible for FMLA leave based on a provision in the Act that excludes employees at worksites at which less that 50 employees are employed “if the total number of employees employed by that employer within 75 miles of that worksite is less than 50.” It was undisputed that Gilead employed less than 50 employees within 75 miles of Peters' worksite, making him statutorily ineligible for FMLA leave. It was also undisputed that if Peters was eligible for FMLA leave, Gilead had miscalculated the 12-week duration of his leave and replaced him before it expired.
Relying on language in Dormeyer v. Comerica Bank-Illinois, 223 F.3d 579, 582 (7th Cir.2000), Peters argued that Gilead was equitably estopped from asserting the FMLA's 50/75 exclusion based on representations made in Gilead's employee handbook and in letters it sent to Peters regarding his entitlement to 12 weeks of medical leave. The district court concluded Peters had not established the elements of equitable estoppel and granted summary judgment for Gilead.
On appeal, the 7th Circuit reversed. The court reasoned that while Dormeyer suggested that FMLA eligibility might, “in an appropriate case,” arise by estoppel, the issue need not have been addressed in this case. Peters alleged a state-law claim for promissory estoppel--an equitable contract remedy that permits enforcement of a promise that induces actual and reasonable reliance on the part of the plaintiff, at least to the extent of the plaintiff's reliance damages. The doctrine is available when a promise lacks the elements of contract; a threshold question is whether the promise created an enforceable contract.
In this case, the court held that the medical-leave representations contained in Gilead's employee handbook (repeated in its letters to Peters) may have created an enforceable contract under Indiana law, giving Peters a contractual right to the equivalent of FMLA leave (that is, 12 weeks) regardless of his statutory ineligibility. If the representations in the handbook are not contractually enforceable, Indiana's promissory-estoppel cause of action allows enforcement of Gilead's promises to the extent of the reliance harm Peters suffered. Accordingly, the court did not find it necessary to decide whether this was an “appropriate case” to apply FMLA eligibility-by-estoppel, a possibility assumed but not decided in Dormeyer.
Peters v. Gilead Sciences, Inc.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.