Deborah Lingenfelter v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado

The Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment against plaintiff Deborah Lingenfelter, a union employee at a Kaiser hospital, who claimed that the hospital retaliated against her because she exercised her right to take approved FMLA leave to care for her autistic sons. The Circuit erroneously applied the business-judgment rule to preclude evidence examining the truthfulness of Kaiser’s explanation of the decision to terminate. Ms. Lingenfelter presents one question: In an employment case, where the plaintiff disputes the truthfulness of the employer’s asserted reason for termination, may a court immunize that reason from an examination of its truthfulness by characterizing it as a “business judgment”?