Tenth Circuit: Carbon County Properly Dismissed Benefits Administrator for Dragging Her Feet on her Own FMLA Paperwork

In a case decided today, Dalpiaz v. Carbon County, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Carbon County’s decision to discharge a benefits administrator when she “acted insubordinately by choosing to submit her FMLA forms at almost the literal last minute, more than seven weeks after the county made its first request for these forms to be submitted as soon as possible and after several reminders that the county was still waiting.”  The Court also agreed that the county was justified in discharging her when she “fail[ed] to make more than a belated, half-hearted effort to comply with a direct and legitimate order” to report to a doctor to obtain a second opinion.  The Court rejected the employee’s argument that this interfered with her rights under the FMLA because, despite the fact that the paperwork and second-opinion were related to her request for FMLA leave, her decisions were “not shelter[ed] . . . from” her obligation “to comply with legitimate directions given by her supervisor.”  The decision affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the employee’s claim on summary judgment.