Stryker Worker’s Loss Upheld in Childbirth Travel Leave Suit (1)

A fired Stryker Corp. employee failed to show work days he missed to travel hundreds of miles and to wait for his daughter’s birth were covered under federal job-protected leave law, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Thursday.

The Family and Medical Leave Act bars employers from terminating a worker for using qualifying leave, including for the birth of a child, a unanimous panel said. But FMLA leave for birth doesn’t start until the day a baby is born unless it’s sought by the birthing mother for prenatal care or by a spouse for a birthing mother’s prenatal care, the panel said. ...