PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

A New Jersey woman says her employer at a Philadelphia parking garage violated the

Family and Medical Leave act by reducing her full-time hours after she took time off for medical reasons, according to a federal suit filed at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mimose Fleury, of Pennsgrove, N.J., has worked as a cashier since 2007 for TPS Parking Management, which owns and operates parking garages located nearby the Philadelphia airport.

According to the complaint, Fleury has various documented mental and physical impairments, including anxiety and hypertension. The impairments occasionally prevent her from conducting day-to-day activities such as running, exercising, concentrating and working.

In August 2012, the complaint says, Fleury's disabilities forced her to take a week-long leave from work. She claims that she told her management that the leave was for medical reasons, but when Fleury returned to work, management informed her that she had been moved from full-time status to on-call.

According to FMLA guidelines, an employee taking medical leave must be able to return to his or her original job or supplied a similar position.

Although Fleury regularly called to ask for available shifts, she was only assigned once, on September 3, 2012, the suit says. When she asked to return to full-time status, Fleury's supervisor told her to re-apply for a position.

Fleury believes she was effectively terminated because she took time off for medical reasons, retaliatory actions that interfere with the FMLA, according to the complaint. She seeks compensatory damages and reimbursement for lost wages and benefits that Fleury would have received if not for the violations.

The plaintiff is represented by Ari Karpf, of Karpf, Karpf and Cerutti in Bensalem, Pa.

The federal case ID number is 2:14-cv-04620-SD.