# Novak v. MetroHealth Medical Center

> Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · September 28, 2007 · 503 F.3d 572

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9565887

## Case

- **Full name:** Donna NOVAK, Plaintif-Appellant, v. METROHEALTH MEDICAL CENTER, Defendant-Appellee
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- **Decided:** September 28, 2007
- **Citations:** 503 F.3d 572; 12 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1612; 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 22884; 2007 WL 2807004
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Heyburn
- **Judges:** Merritt and Batchelder, Circuit Judges Heyburn, Chief District Judge
- **Cited by:** 103 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9565887

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that FMLA leave was not available to care for an employee’s newborn grandchild while the baby’s mother (the employee’s 18-year-old daughter) suffered from a short-term bout with postpartum depression, both because the employee’s adult child was not incapable of self-ca…
- recognizing that “other courts will impose [the duty to inform the employee of a deficiency in a certification and provide a reasonable opportunity to cure] on employers when the FMLA certification is merely ‘inadequate,’ rather than ‘incomplete’ ”
- holding that a medical certification form under a related FMLA provision is insufficient where it lacks a statement of “the appropriate medical facts within the healthcare provider’s knowledge” to support the FMLA claim
- noting that the nearly identical permissive language in 29 U.S.C. § 2613(c)(1) regarding the employer’s right to demand a second certification does not “requir[e] an employer to obtain a second opinion or else waive any future opportunity to contest the validity of the [first]…
- finding the certification form submitted by the plaintiff to be unreliable where it failed to set forth detailed medical facts and was signed by an assistant, not the physician

## Opinion text

HEYBURN, Chief District Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the analysis and result in Judge Batchelder’s opinion, except that I do not express an opinion concerning the standard adopted in Section II.A.2. of that opinion. Judge Batchelder adopts a standard whereby short-term restrictions on major life activities generally do not constitute a disability under the FMLA. Judge Merritt would adopt the standard set forth in Navarro v. Pfizer Corp., 261 F.3d 90 (1st Cir.2001). I find it unnecessary to take either side in order to resolve this case, because I conclude, as have my two fellow judges, that Novak has met neither standard.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9565887. Public record. Not legal advice.