On February 16, 2010, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge James Robertson allowed TELG client Mary Kate Breeden to proceed with her FMLA retaliation claim in Breeden v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.. Breeden worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative. After announcing that she intended to take maternity leave, Novartis announced a restructuring of their sales territories reassigned Breeden to an area with lower sales. After she objected, her manager said the change was temporary and that she would be “made whole.” When she returned from leave, Breeden learned that the changes were permanent and was never “made whole.” Novartis later reorganized the territories again, at which time they consolidated Breeden’s territory with another and terminated her position.
Novartis claims that it would have taken the same actions regardless of Mrs. Breeden’s use of FMLA leave and sought summary judgment of her claims. Judge Robertson granted the motion in part and dismissed Breeden’s discrimination claim. However the Judge found that her employer’s decision not to make her “whole” could be seen as retaliatory. The Judge held that “employees might reasonably fear that asserting their rights under the FMLA, as Breeden did, would result in diminished sales territories, with attendant risks of reduced opportunities for promotion and increased risk of termination.” Further “Novartis’s eventual decision to terminate Breeden’s employment provides some ex post confirmation of the reasonableness of such fears.”
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