Special In Person Handshakes Are Now The Only Way To Verify Receipt Of A Communication?

Under the Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), the process for providing an employee with leave arguably generates enough paper to defoliate a small forest. Among the mound of paper, is the important notice letter, which designates an employee's absence as leave under the FMLA.

Now, our lawyer fan base can appreciate the timeless law school principle of the mailbox rule. Tested on many a first year law school final exam, the mailbox rule stands for the notion that if a letter, properly directed, is proved to have been given to the post-office or delivered to the postman, it is presumed that it reached its destination at the regular time, and is received by the person to whom it was addressed.

Traditionally, the legal protection of the mailbox rule guaranteed that if a former employee denied ever receiving a letter that designated her absence as leave under FMLA, her previous employer would avoid liability. Two recent cases have shaken that notion and called into question a timeless notice principle.

US Mail

In Lupyan v. Corinthian Colleges Inc., 761 F.3d 314 (3d Cir. 2014), an employee's sworn statement that she did not receive her employer's mailed FMLA notification letter was sufficient to create a fact question precluding summary judgment.

Lisa Lupyan requested a "personal leave" in early December 2007 relating to her depression. Her supervisor suggested she apply for short-term disability instead, and Lupyan submitted a Certification of Health Care Provider. Her employer determined that Lupyan qualified for FMLA, and later that month mailed Lupyan a letter explaining her rights under the statute and advising that she was expected to return to work by April 1, 2008. Lupyan denied ever having received the letter. Five weeks after Lupyan was scheduled to return to work, the college terminated her employment. Lupyan claimed interference with her FMLA rights, arguing under that she would have "expedited her return" had she known her leave was subject to the requirements of the FMLA.

The Third Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the college. In support of its summary judgment, the employer had submitted affidavits from other employees verifying that the notification letter was sent via standard mail. The Third Circuit recognized that this evidence entitled the employer to the benefit of the mailbox rule, BUT that "this 'is not a conclusive presumption of law.'" Because Lupyan claimed in an affidavit that...