National Litigation Hotline

The Eleventh Circuit has held that a company's client cannot be held liable under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), as the client cannot be considered the employee's “employer,” “integrated employer,” or “joint employer” under the statute. Morrison v. Magic Carpet Aviation, 2004 WL 1970052 (11th Cir. Sept. 8).

RDV Sports, Inc. owns the National Basketball League's Orlando Magic. RDV contracted with Magic Carpet Aviation, Inc. to fly the Orlando Magic and its staff throughout the country. David Morrison, a pilot for Magic Carpet, filed suit under the FMLA against Magic Carpet, Inc., Amway Corp. (of which Magic Corp. was a wholly owned subsidiary), RDV, and Morrison's supervisor individually. The gravamen of Morrison's claim was that he was denied his FMLA rights when his supervisor allowed him only 2 weeks' mental health leave and fired him for requesting additional time off. Noting that the FMLA covers only employers with at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of the worksite, and finding that Magic Carpet and Amway (as Morrison's joint employers) did not meet that threshold, the district court granted defendants' motions for summary judgment. The district court further held that the employees of RDV could not be counted for purposes of reaching the 50-employee threshold because, as a matter of law, RDV Sports was not Morrison's “employer,” “integrated employer,” or “joint employer.” Morrison appealed this latter holding.