Halunen & Associates

Joni Thome and Frances Baillon represented a former employee, David Hollenkamp in his disability discrimination and FMLA retaliation suit against his former employer, Jennie O Turkey Store and Hormel Food Corp. The Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) makes it illegal for an employer to fire an employee because of his/her disability. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) makes it illegal for an employer to interfere or retaliate against an employee who seeks to exercise his/her rights and take leave under FMLA. The former employee worked for Jennie-O for 36 years, most recently as a sanitation supervisor. During the last several months of employment, he was diagnosed with rectal cancer. The condition required he miss several weeks of work. When he returned to work, with lifting restrictions and a limit on the number of hours he worked, his supervisor told him that he believed the employee was faking or exaggerating the severity of his condition. For the first time in 36 years of employment, his performance was rated as subpar. The supervisor also informed him that he could no longer use sick days? but would have to use vacation days? when he missed work.

Later that same year, the former employee required surgery related to a hernia and bowel obstruction and had to miss work for more than two months on a combination of FMLA leave and vacation days. While he was on leave, the supervisor gave him another subpar performance evaluation. Ultimately, the company offered him the choice to be fired or take a demotion to an hourly position that paid significantly less, that would have caused him to lose his pension and profit-sharing eligibility, and required him to perform physical tasks outside his medical restrictions. The employee declined this demotion and was fired. He claimed he was fired because his medical expenses were costing the company too much money, causing him to take too much time away from work, and his work restrictions prevented him from performing some of his job functions without accommodations.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota denied defendant Jennie-O’s motion for summary judgment. Jennie-O claimed it fired the former employee because his last performance rating was not satisfactory and therefore he was not “qualified” for the job. But, the court found “an employer’s subjective evaluation cannot establish that an employee was unqualified for the job. “ (Click here to read the court’s opinion). The court also held that there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the Jennie-O’s stated reason for terminating the employee was merely pretext, or an excuse, to terminate him because of his disability or his taking of FMLA leave.