When dealing with FMLA eligibility, every second counts. No one knows better than this former employee.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled that the USPS didn’t violate the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) after terminating Antoinette Pirant, a former worker.

To be eligible for those benefits, an employee must have been employed by a company for at least 12 months and must have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12-month period before making the request. After Pirant left for FMLA leave, USPS looked through their payroll records and discovered she didn’t meet the criteria.

Pirant had only logged in 1248.8 hours in the 12 months preceding her absence. As a result, USPS was forced to terminate her.

Pirant did not challenge the accuracy of USPS’ payroll records — instead, she claimed she was wrongly suspended for two hours at the end of one of her shifts, and those missed hours would have been enough to put her over the 1,250-hour threshold.

But a court ruled in favor of USPS, noting that Pirant could have challenged her suspension when it was placed into effect to have her lost hours restored. Because she didn’t file a grievance until long after the deadline had passed, there was no way for her to gain the lost hours — or her job back.

Cite: Pirant v. U.S. Postal Svc., 7th CA, No. 542-F3D-202

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Tags: FMLA, Lawsuit, Payroll, Suspension, USPS