Cooperative Educational Service Agency #5 v. Sarah Simon

This Court’s decision in Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide, Inc., 535 U.S. 81, 122 S. Ct. 1155, 152 L. Ed. 2d 167 (2002), requires that a Federal Family Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2601, et. seq. (“FMLA”) claimant must show that she was prejudiced by the FMLA violation, and that without “prejudice”, a violation is a “technical violation” that is not actionable. Ragsdale established that there are two ways to show “prejudice”: proving the existence of harm that can be remedied by an award of monetary damages or that an award of equitable relief can remediate the harm. In this case, however, the Seventh Circuit created a third pathway to establish prejudice, a standard not found in Ragsdale, that a plaintiff can show prejudice under the FMLA if a district court “declares” that the FMLA was violated, and the violation results in a subjective loss of status that cannot be remedied by monetary damages or appropriate equitable relief. The Question Presented is: 1. Does an employee’s subjective loss of status that cannot be remedied by monetary damages or appropriate equitable relief constitute prejudice that would make an FMLA violation actionable and not a technical violation?