MIAMI – A former employee has filed a lawsuit against Home Depot for alleged FMLA violations claiming she was terminated in retaliation for taking intermittent leave to care for her seriously ill mother.
Amanda J. Mathis filed the lawsuit in federal court against Home Depot U.S.A. citing interference with her rights and retaliation in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
According to court documents, Mathis was employed as a design consultant and in-home salesperson at a Palm Beach location from January 17, 2022, through April 7, 2023. Mathis claims that in February 2023, she was approved for intermittent FMLA leave to care for her seriously ill mother. She provided notice for FMLA leave and worked with her manager to schedule the time off.
Mathis says her manager expressed concerns about the intermittent leave arrangement, stating it differed from typical 12-week continuous leave. The manager discussed concerns about the impact of Mathis's leave on the sales team's performance with Human Resources, but Mathis says she made efforts to compensate for her FMLA absences by working longer hours and the occasional Sunday to keep her sales numbers up for the sales team.
Despite receiving a sales award on April 6, 2023, Mathis says she was terminated from her position the next day. The defendant claims the termination is due to a discount provided to a customer in February 2023, but Mathis contends she followed the supervisor's directive regarding the discount, and the issue was raised only after her FMLA requests. Mathis believes the termination is pretextual and was actually in retaliation for her use of FMLA.
For interference with her FMLA rights, Mathis is seeking compensatory damages, interest, liquidated damages, equitable relief, attorney fees, court costs, and other relief.
Mathis is being represented by Cathleen Scott of the Scott Law Team in Jupiter.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida case number 9:23-cv-81464