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William R. Scherer III Represented the North Broward Hospital District

William R. Scherer III successfully represented the North Broward Hospital District in a lawsuit brought by an employee of the District who claimed that her termination of employment by the District for excessive absenteeism violated her rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”).   The case was tried to a jury and resulted in a defense verdict in favor of Mr. Scherer’s client, the District, which was later affirmed on appeal.   The case addressed an important and previously unresolved question of whether a “period of incapacity of more than three calendar days”, for purposes of establishing a “serious health condition” which was necessary for coverage by the FMLA, required 72 consecutive hours of incapacity (i.e. being physically unable to work) or whether intermittent but not constant incapacity over a three-day period was sufficient.   The trial court and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Mr. Scherer’s position that 72 uninterrupted hours of incapacity was required under the FMLA to constitute a serious health condition and Mr. Scherer’s client did not violate the FMLA by terminating its employee for excessive absenteeism where the employee did not have a serious health condition resulting in missed time from work.