Employee's leave to care for ill sister's children not protected by FMLA

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio recently dismissed a former employee's claim that he was entitled to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to care for his sister's children. The employee's claim failed because his sister, not her children, had a serious health condition.

Facts

Edward Brede was hired by Apple Inc. in 2008 and ultimately became a full-time Apple Genius team member at the Crocker Park Apple store in Westlake. In July 2018, Brede requested intermittent FMLA leave to care for his niece and nephew because his sister had a serious medical condition. He asked for approximately one day of leave every two weeks.

Apple later denied Brede a promotion based on his inability to come to work. In June 2019, he received a negative performance evaluation because of his “spotty attendance.” He renewed his intermittent FMLA leave request the next month. On July 30, he was disciplined after he kept a customer's computer hard drive while the customer left the store and took the hard drive with him on break. That policy violation led to his termination on August 23.