Krutzig v. Pulte Home Corp.
22 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C1416a (11th Cir. 2010)
Krutzig, a former employee of Pulte Home Corp., began the process of securing leave pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act, but was terminated two days after her initial conversation with human resources for poor performance. Her supervisors, the ultimate decision makers, were unaware of her impending leave. The Eleventh Circuit held that the FMLA right to commence leave is not absolute, and an employee can be dismissed, preventing her from exercising her right to commence FMLA leave, without thereby violating the FMLA, if she would have been terminated regardless of her request for FMLA leave. Here, Pulte showed Krutzig would have been terminated for poor performance regardless of her leave, and Krutzig was unable to show any genuine issue of material fact to the contrary sufficient to reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Pulte.