Class Action Lawsuit Alleges CSX Penalizes, Retaliates Against Workers Who Take FMLA Leave

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A proposed class action lawsuit accuses CSX Transportation of punishing and retaliating against employees who exercise their rights under the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

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The 20-page lawsuit was filed by seven current and former CSX employees who were allegedly terminated or suspended without pay by the freight railroad company in connection with their lawful use of FMLA leave. The plaintiffs, who each have serious health conditions requiring them to request intermittent FMLA leave from work, allege Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX has engaged in a “brazen” practice of discouraging employees from using FMLA leave, and penalizing those who lawfully do so.

The suit contends that CSX has attempted to curb workers’ use of FMLA leave by, for instance, miscalculating the amount of leave they take. Under the federal law, employers are required to let workers take FMLA leave in the smallest increment of time allowed for other forms of leave, the case explains.

However, the complaint relays that CSX wrongfully counts FMLA leave usage per day, rather than per hour. This policy effectively minimizes how much FMLA leave employees take because if a worker uses FMLA leave for one standard overnight shift, the company counts it as two days of leave, rather than eight hours, the filing argues.

In addition, an attendance policy called the Crew Attendance Point System (CAPS) implemented in 2015 “explicitly” penalizes employees for taking FMLA leave, the lawsuit alleges. Under the CAPS policy, CSX employees accrue points when they miss work and are terminated if they reach a certain number, the suit explains. A worker’s points may be erased when they go a certain period of time with perfect attendance, the case adds.

However, per the CAPS policy, employees who take FMLA leave during this remediation period are ineligible to have points voided from their record, the complaint notes.

“For example, an employee who does not miss work for the period specified in the CAPS policy will have points removed from his record,” the filing says. “A second employee, who takes a single day off work to attend the birth of his child but is otherwise identically situated to the first employee, retains his points and remains on probation—and at a heightened risk of termination.”

As such, the attendance policy forces workers to choose between lawfully taking FMLA leave or “returning to CSX’s good graces,” the lawsuit charges, adding that employees “cannot do both.”

Finally, the suit claims that the company has since January 2018 suspended or terminated more than 100 workers over “baseless” allegations of fraudulent use of FMLA leave. Per the case, CSX’s “large-scale purge of its workforce” began when the company charged more than 140 employees who took FMLA leave over the 2017 holiday season with a workplace rule violation and suspended them without pay for allegedly misusing their FMLA leave.

Although CSX apparently had no evidence of any fraud, the company nevertheless terminated or suspended the “overwhelming majority” of the charged employees following their disciplinary hearings, during which the workers substantiated their entitlement to FMLA leave, the complaint contends.

CSX’s “concerted campaign” aimed to rid the company of a substantial portion of employees who use FMLA leave and “scare” the rest of its workers from taking such leave themselves, the filing asserts.

“CSX’s remaining employees who rely on FMLA leave are now terrified to exercise their rights under the FMLA,” the lawsuit claims. “Having received CSX’s message loud and clear, CSX’s employees now go to all possible lengths to avoid taking FMLA leave.”

Ultimately, the suit accuses the company of violating the FMLA by interfering with and denying workers’ rights under the federal law and retaliating against those who rely on its protections.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone employed by CSX who, at any time within the past three years, had their FMLA leave counted by increments larger than one hour or the smallest increment of time in which CSX calculates non-FMLA leave, whichever is less.

The suit also aims to cover CSX workers who, in the past three years, had attendance points remain on their record solely because they took FMLA leave, or were disciplined or terminated for using FMLA leave.

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