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Staffing firms must pay in sick leave, nursing mother cases

September 21, 2015

A contingent worker fired for trying to take sick leave and another temporary worker who requested time off to express milk both resulted in staffing firms having to pay damages.

In the first case, a staffing firm must pay $10,000 in lost wages and damages after terminating an assembly line worker in Indiana who requested leave for his own serious illness, the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced last Wednesday. The worker was not allowed the 15 days required by the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide a medical certification to the employer, according to the division.

In addition, the staffing firm, Malone staffing, did not have an established FMLA policy, failed to display the required FMLA poster and did not provide required notices to the affected worker, the agency said.

In the second case, an Express Employment Professionals branch in Modesto, Calif., must pay $1,152 in back wages and damages to a nursing mother who was asked not to return to a client’s workplace after she requested time to express milk during the workday, according to the division. The worker was placed with another client, but was out of work and without pay for eight work days before the new assignment began.

“The fact that we just celebrated National Breastfeeding Month throughout this country in August underscores the importance of understanding that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires breaks for mothers to express breast milk during the workday,” said Rick Newton, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Sacramento District Office.