Lovland v. Employers Mutual Casualty Company

Issue: Whether, when an employee takes leave protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. §" 2601 et seq. (FMLA), and the employer later uses the employee"s FMLA-protected absences as a negative factor in an employment decision, the employer"s conduct establishes impermissible interference with the employee"s FMLA rights without any further proof of intent (as the Third and Ninth Circuits, following a regulation issued by the Secretary of Labor, have held), or the employee must prove that the employer"s proffered reasons for the adverse decision were a pretext for discrimination under the burden-shifting analysis set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, as several other circuits have held.