By Joy P. Waltemath, J.D.

Even assuming that a city manager had notified the city council that she was going on FMLA leave when she told them she was having foot surgery and would be able to work from home while recovering, her employer could fire her without unlawfully interfering with the FMLA as long as the reason for her termination was not because she was on leave. This it did, said the Sixth Circuit in affirming summary judgment for the city, because the employer demonstrated a legitimate reason for terminating her—it cited her role in “causing political strife in the community.” Moreover, it was questionable that she had provided FMLA notice since there was evidence she refused to take and complete the city’s FMLA forms, and it was suggested that she was only going to take a few days off and work from home. She also had no evidence of pretext (Mullendore v. City of Belding, released August 23, 2017, redesignated as published September 15, 2017, Batchelder, A.).

Political difficulties. The city manager’s employment contract allowed her to be terminated at will subject to certain severance provisions; it had been renewed several times and was set to expire in April 2016. Several politically difficult issues punctuated her tenure, including when she, in conjunction with the police chief, fired a city police officer who was involved in a fight while off-duty and who punched a woman who was eight months pregnant. The officer was later reinstated, and the city manager endured the “extremely vocal” criticism of some citizens as a result. When a new council member was elected, he made it clear in an email to other council members and local citizens that he was “not in favor of our city manager” and would push for her termination as soon as the city charter allowed.

Notice of surgery, work at home. Two weeks before she was terminated, the city manager gave all city council members a memo detailing her need for surgery and a 12-week recovery period where she would be on crutches. Because city hall was not ADA compliant, the city’s insurance agent recommended she work from home. She also met with several council members and the mayor to discuss her plans. There was some evidence that the city manager stated that she would not seek medical leave and declined to complete the city’s FMLA paperwork “because she would just be taking off a few days and working from home.” At the next city council meeting following her surgery, while she was not present, the new council member moved to terminate the city manager’s employment although the motion was not on the agenda; the motion passed, and the city manager sued, alleging FMLA violations.

The district court granted summary judgment finding no reasonable jury could find that the employer was on notice of her intent to take medical leave. Although the district court acknowledged that her memo indicated she would be taking time off for medical reasons, it found the memo was only a notification of her medical situation and a statement that she would be working from home. This was an “accommodation,” said the lower court, “fundamentally different” from asking for FMLA leave. In addition, even if the memo could be characterized as sufficient FMLA notice, the proffered reason for firing her, which it said was “basically political controversy and distraction,” was a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason and she had no evidence of pretext.

Timing was to fire her behind her back. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit pointed out that the city manager seemed to erroneously equate a termination while she was absent with a termination because she was absent on FMLA-qualifying leave. That an adverse employment action occurred while she was on leave did not demonstrate that that action was based on the fact that she had taken FMLA-protected leave. Her evidence demonstrated at best that the council terminated her when she was not at the meeting “because it was personally or politically expedient to do so behind her back.” She lacked evidence that the reason for her termination—as opposed to the timing of the termination—was because she was on FMLA leave. “Had she been on vacation or attending a part-time class, the City Council likely could have taken this action with impunity,” mused the Sixth Circuit. Instead, the evidence clearly demonstrated that she was terminated because she was not at the meeting and the council could therefore fire her without having to face her—not because she was using FMLA leave.

Notice. Thus, the appeals court found it really didn’t matter whether her memo to the city council put it on notice that she would be taking an FMLA-qualifying leave (the employer claimed it was merely a notice of accommodations she would need to continue working while recovering from surgery.) Regardless of the adequacy of the notice, the city manager had not shown that she lost her job because she took FMLA-qualifying leave.

Pretext. Her challenge to the city’s proffered reason for her lost job questioned whether political strife actually motivated the termination, but it too failed. She offered no evidence in support of her claim that she was really terminated because she was on FMLA leave, even if the timing of the council member’s motion made it easier to get enough votes to get rid of her. At best, her theories raised “a mere scintilla of evidence” insufficient to defeat summary judgment in the face of the council’s evidence that it wanted to fire her even before she had her surgery because it was unhappy with her work and felt she was divisive. Summary judgment to the employer was accordingly affirmed.

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

Legislation that would provide 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected maternity and paternity leave for Californians who work for smaller employers passed the California Senate on September 13 and is now headed to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. An amended version of the bill, authored by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), cleared the Senate by a 25-13 vote. The amended measure passed the Assembly on September 12 by a 51-15 ballot.

The New Parent Leave Act, S.B. 63, would provide 12 weeks of job-protected maternity and paternity leave for up to 2.7 million more California parents who work for smaller companies with 20-49 employees. Current law only provides that those who work for an employer of 50 or more are eligible for job-protected leave. That leaves more than 40 percent of California workers in the position of risking job loss if they take advantage of California’s Paid Family Leave Program, which they are already paying into, because they work for smaller employers, according to Jackson.

“Any parent knows that the birth of a child comes with many challenges,” Jackson said in a statement. “But losing a job should not be among them. Ensuring that we have strong maternity and paternity leave policies in place for Californians is an economic issue that affects the health and well-being of millions of California’s children and working families.”

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Volvo Cars is doubling investment in its first U.S. plant under construction to add a second production line at a total cost of $1 billion, a source with knowledge of the plans said, as the carmaker heads for a fourth straight year of record sales.

(Reuters) – Drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc said on Tuesday it received regulatory clearance to buy 1,932 stores, 254 stores lesser than it had previously intended, from Rite Aid Corp for $4.38 billion.

Americans were slightly more confident in the economy last week, largely because of their improving expectations for the future.

MONHEIM, Germany (Reuters) – German drugs and pesticides group Bayer said it would likely take until early next year to complete the planned $66 billion takeover of U.S. seeds group Monsanto , which it had previously expected to be under wraps by the end of 2017.

The majority, or 90%, of employees believe in regularly refreshing their skills and competencies to enhance their employability, according to data from Randstad’s Workmonitor Q3 2017.

The monitor showed that this belief is highest in China (98%) and lowest in the Netherlands (67%). Meanwhile, on average, 74% of the global respondents agree that they are realising their full potential in their current jobs. In Greece and Malaysia, 90% of respondents agreed, while in Japan 55% of respondents agree.

When it comes to staying aligned with developments in their field, employees in India (97%) are happiest, while in Japan only 56% feel they are keeping up to speed.

“These low scores in Japan may be explained by the fact that the Japanese tend to be pessimistic and discreet,” Takashi Matsui, head of Randstad Research Institute Japan, said. “They often avoid saying ‘yes’ if they’re not 100% sure about something.””

The monitor also showed that in general, employees believe that keeping their skills and competencies up to date is their own responsibility (91%). In Mexico, as many as 99% of respondents believe this, while in New Zealand, 75% agree.

Moreover, 75% of global respondents feel they need more training and/or education to stay up to date, with 71% looking for more vocational training and 49% for training of personal skills. The data from the monitor also showed that job-related skills are in highest demand in Mexico (89%), while the monitor recorded the greatest need for developing ‘soft’ skills in Singapore (78%), India (73%) and Malaysia (70%). France scored 16% on the need for more training in general.

Over the past 12 months, 71% of global respondents say they have done some training activity to upskill themselves in relation to work. The lowest score (32%) is again found in Japan.

“There is a deeply rooted seniority culture at Japanese companies,” Matsui said. “Employees are basically promoted with age, and people generally believe that investing in skills will not increase income or career development. Our long-hour working culture may also play a role.” The monitor added that training activities are also relatively scarce in France, where 55% took part in a training activity over the past 12 months.

Globally, 66% of respondents indicate that job-related training activities are offered and paid for by their employer. The percentage is highest in India (85%), while Japan again scores lowest (42%). Overall, 67% of employers state they would be willing to do pay for job-related training, with the highest percentage in Mexico (96%) and the lowest in France (43%) and Japan (41%).

Randstad recorded a mobility index score of 109 for the third quarter. This means the number of employees worldwide expecting to be employed elsewhere in the coming six months remained stable compared to the previous quarter. Mobility was up most in New Zealand (+7), Hungary (+6), Australia (+5), and France (+5). The biggest decreases are found in China (-7) and the US, Norway, Sweden and Greece (all -5).

Actual job change remained stable at 23%. Compared to last quarter, job change increased most significantly in Hong Kong (+6%), Turkey (+5%), Mexico (+4%) and Switzerland (+4%), while it saw the biggest decrease in the US (-5%). Meanwhile, at 47%, job change in India is even higher than in the previous quarter, with 34% changing employers and a further 13% changing positions at the same employer

Compared to the previous quarter, the desire to change jobs increased most in Denmark, Malaysia and Sweden, while it decreased most in Mexico, the Czech Republic, the UK and Norway. Meanwhile, compared to last quarter, job satisfaction increased most in Denmark (from 79% to 83%). Denmark is now the second-most-satisfied country behind Mexico (85%). Job satisfaction decreased in Australia and is lowest in Japan (42%).

Randstad’s study is conducted online among employees aged 18-65, working a minimum of 24 hours a week in a paid job (not self-employed). The minimum sample size is 400 interviews per country.

The unemployment rate in Vietnam stood at 2.26% in the second quarter of the year, the lowest level in five quarters according to data from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The data also showed that there were 1.08 million working-age people who were unemployed in the second quarter, down by 20,000 people during the previous quarter and 7,000 year-on-year.

The unemployment rate among those holding under-graduate and higher degrees rose to 3.63% in Q2/2017, up from 2.79% in Q1/2017. This means that up to 180,000 people with bachelor’s or master’s degrees found no jobs in the second quarter.

Dao Quang Vinh, director of the Institute of Labor and Social Science under the MoLISA, stated that the quality of the labour force continued to improve but at a slow pace.

Meanwhile, the Department of Overseas Labor announced that the total number of Vietnamese workers sent abroad to work in August 2017 was nearly 10,000. In the first eight months of 2017, the total number of Vietnamese labourers working abroad is 78,938 people (29,496 female workers).

Men occupy at least 80% of the top jobs in Asia as well as the bulk of line manager roles, according to annual gender diversity research from international recruitment firm Hays.

The research was based on a survey of women and men working in more than 30 industry sectors across China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Hays stated that the research showed both women and men link greater gender diversity to business success but female leadership remains very low in Asia. Hong Kong has the highest number of men holding the top job at 89% and Malaysia the highest percentage of female leaders at 24%.

“Each year, Hays carries out research on gender diversity in all the countries where we support businesses,” Simon Lance, Managing Director of Hays Greater China, said. “To better serve the thousands of employers and candidates we work with across Asia, we are producing this new report to focus exclusively on what is happening in our region.”

“Last year, men held 79% of the top jobs and 67% of line manager roles so there is no real improvement in female representation in leadership roles,” Lance said. “However, we have been buoyed by the similarities of views when it comes to recognising that greater gender diversity delivers positives for business.”

The research showed that the largest proportion of respondents of both genders support more sharing of family responsibilities to help address equality in the workplace, describe access to flexible work options as important to them, concede women face barriers to career success due to gender, and agree their organisation has some gender diversity issues to address.

“Tackling gender bias around promotion, recruitment and accommodating life choices such as parenting and elder care requires focus and can be confronting to any organisation,” Lance said. “However, with an aging population and workforce in Asia, the companies that get this right will ensure they have the largest pool of talent to draw upon as candidates get harder to find and thus, will gain a competitive advantage that is truly worth the commitment in getting this done right.”

By country, all Hong Kong survey respondents say greater gender diversity has a positive impact on business. Japan has the largest proportion of respondents with fewer than 6% of respondents saying greater gender diversity has no positive business impact. In Singapore less than 5% of respondents share that view while in China, it was less than 3% and Malaysia it was 1%.

Both male and female respondents in China, Malaysia and Singapore view company culture is the most useful benefit of greater gender diversity. In Japan, men and women see the recruitment of the best talent as the key benefit. In Hong Kong both genders agree greater gender diversity boosts a company’s reputation.

By 2022, nearly 37% of India’s workforce would be in jobs demanding radically different skill sets, according to a report from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) and India-based Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies).

The report, ‘Future of Skills and Jobs in India’, also states that 9% of the workforce would be deployed in new jobs that do not exist today. The report highlights the impact that various primary forces such as globalization, demographics, and Industry 4.0/exponential technologies, are expected to have on the key sectors of the economy. It also provides an overview of the job creation rates across various sectors and the new jobs that will emerge in the next few years.

According to the report, in India, the future of jobs in 2022 will be determined by the country’s response to 12 megatrends which includes:

under globalization,

the level of exports,

rapid adoption of exponential technologies,

increasing/shrinking overseas job market for Indian workforce and level of FDI flows

under adoption of exponential technologies by Indian companies,

evolution of products/services into smart connected products and services,

acceleration of the optimization of industry value chains,

business innovation,

demand for a resourceful planet and sustainability and new work arrangements, –

rising size of the middle-class,

high proportion of young population including millennials, and

increasing urbanization.

Furthermore, in the organized IT/BPM sector, 60-65% of the workforce would be deployed in jobs that have radically changed skill sets (projected for 2020) and similarly in automotive sector, 50-55% of the workforce would be deployed in jobs that have radically changed skill sets, also projected by 2020.

Mohandas Pai, Chairman, FICCI Skill Development Committee & Chairman Manipal Global Education, stated that there was an urgent need to collate and analyze data to understand in which sectors jobs were being created, what were the skills that were needed by industries and employers, and how productivity could be enhanced with re-skilling of workforce.

“Today, there is pressing need to incentivize industries that are manpower intensive and have high employment elasticity,” Arunkumar Pillai, Partner, Skill Development, Government and Public Sector, EY (Ernst and Young), said. “Leveraging the window available in the next three years will enable the Government to undertake large scale reforms in the education and training sector to ensure that the supply of an Industry 4.0 compliant workforce is readily available.

For more on industry 4.0, click here.