Labor and Employment Law—First Circuit Upholds Department of Labor’s Broad Construction of the FMLA—Rucker v. Lee Holding Co., 471 F.3d 6 (1st Cir. 2006)

First Circuit Review 2008

In 1993, Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The law permits eligible employees to take up to twelve weeks leave for specific medical or family reasons. In Rucker v. Lee Holding Co., the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit considered whether a former employee, who the employer rehired after a prolonged absence, and who satisfies the hours-worked requirement, may include his previous employment with that employer to satisfy the twelve-month requirement for medical leave under the FMLA. The court deferred to Department of Labor (DOL) regulations, which allowed workers to combine previous employment to meet the twelve-month requirement, and held that Rucker was an “eligible employee” under the FMLA. . . .