Lovland v. Employers Mutual Casualty Company

Issue: Whether, when an employee takes leave protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq. (FMLA), and the employer later uses the employee’s FMLA-protected absences as a negative factor in an employment decision, the employer’s conduct establishes impermissible interference with the employee’s FMLA rights without any further proof of intent (as the Third and Ninth Circuits, following a regulation issued by the Secretary of Labor, have held), or the employee must prove that the employer’s proffered reasons for the adverse decision were a pretext for discrimination under the burden-shifting analysis set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, as several other circuits have held.

Briefs and Documents

Certiorari-stage documents

• Opinion below (8th Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Reply of petitioner