Cases & Developments

Opinion affirming summary judgment in favor of the University.  Plaintiff, a former tenured English professor at Nicholls State University, brought a federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) interference claim and state-law disability discrimination and retaliation claims against the University and multiple officials, alleging that following her diagnosis with irritable bowel syndrome and approval for intermittent FMLA leave, the University nevertheless required her to submit doctor’s notes for each absence and reassigned her to the Writing Lab allegedly as a way to force her to retire.  In affirming summary judgment in favor of the University, the Fifth Circuit found that her interference claim failed because the University had required the documentation only for plaintiff to collect paid sick leave for her otherwise unpaid FMLA leave.  Her retaliation claim failed because she had not identified any protected activity in her opening brief, and her discrimination claim failed because she admitted that her request to teach all of her classes online would have required the University to reassign adjunct professors already scheduled to teach the classes.