Barrett v. Ill. Dep't of Corrs., No. 13-2833 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseIn 1995 Barrett began work at the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) as an account technician. IDOC employees can be fired if they accumulate 12 unauthorized absences from work; unauthorized absences accrue on an employee’s record but are automatically expunged if the employee has a clean attendance history for a period of 24 consecutive months. Barrett was fired in 2010 after accumulating 12 unauthorized absences over a period of seven years. She claims that three of these absences (in 2003, 2004, and 2005) were for family or medical care and were protected by the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. 2601. In 2012 she sued IDOC for violating her rights under the FMLA. The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal, agreeing that the suit was time-barred. An FMLA suit must be filed “not later than 2 years after the date of the last event constituting the alleged violation for which the action is brought.” The alleged FMLA violations occurred, and the limitations period began to run, when IDOC denied Barrett’s requests for leave and classified the three contested absences as unauthorized—not, as she claimed, when she was fired years later as a consequence of her overall attendance record.
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