Workers’ Comp Release No Bar to FMLA and State Law Retaliation Claims
After suffering a work injury, an employee immediately filed a workers' compensation claim and received work leave. He requested an additional week of medical leave, returned to work and was fired two weeks later. He later signed a compromise and release of his Workers' Compensation claim. Following his settlement, the now former employee sued his former employer under the Family and Medical Leave act (FMLA) and Pennsylvania common law. He alleged his employer interfered with his FMLA rights by failing to notify him of those rights and by not designating his leave as FMLA protected and retaliated against him for exercising his FMLA rights and for filing a workers' compensation claim. The employer successfully argued before the trial court that the release of the workers’ comp claim barred the subsequent claims. However, the Third Circuit reversed, holding the compromise agreement was a specific and limited release and did not encompass the employee's FMLA claims or state common law claims.