Energy company reaches settlement over FMLA violation
Alaskan energy company ASRC Energy Services Alaska has agreed to pay its employee $43,000 in back wages for wrongful termination. According to Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, the Department of Labor filed the suit after an investigation by the Seattle office of the Department of Labor revealed the employer incorrectly calculated the worker's time and attendance.
ASRC applied weeks in which the employee was not actually scheduled to report toward his leave allotment. The company then fired the worker for exceeding the allowable amount of leave. Such termination is in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) because scheduled time off does not count as leave.
The FMLA gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for various medical and familial reasons. Its purpose is to promote a healthy balance between work and family life for employees.
In addition to paying back wages, the energy company must institute a new system in which it will continue to comply with the FMLA, according to the Department of Labor. ASRC also voluntarily reinstated the employee it wrongfully terminated.
"This judgment demonstrates the department's commitment to ensuring employees receive all of the protections to which they are entitled under the FMLA," said Donna Hart, director of the Seattle District Office of the Wage and Hour Division.
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