DV Victim wins FMLA case in Alaska

A police officer from Anchorage won in the November 12th Alaska Supreme Court ruling that stated that she was eligible for the Family and Medical Leave Act and had put her department on notice when she had stated that she needed time off to "get her life back together" due to the domestic abuse that she experienced along with other complications. (Anchorage v. Gregg, Alaska, No. S-10722, 11/12/04).
Despite not requesting for the leave specifically nor providing medical documentation at the time, the court ruled that the city employer violated her right to FMLA as her supervisors knew of the abuse and that she had requested time to recuperated. The diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, along with issues stemming from a previous car accident and pregnancy, all qualified her for the benefit.
"When an employee is actually incapacitated by illness, the failure to get a correct diagnosis cannot disqualify an employee from the Act's protection," Justice Alexander O. Bryner wrote for the unanimous court. "To hold that a doctor must agree, contemporaneously and at all times, that the employee is unable to work, places a burden on the employee that we find nowhere in the plain text of the Act, and ignores the reality of debilitating illness."

Thanks to Robin Runge of the Domestic Violence Commission of the American Bar Association for this information.