MIAMI - A Walmart employee who missed 37 shifts and blamed her interpreter has lost her lawsuit, with a federal judge calling her argument unreasonable.
Judge Robin Rosenberg on Aug. 27 ruled against Sindy Jean, a Creole woman whose interpreter provided his own email address as the best way to contact her. This wasn't Walmart's fault, Rosenberg ruled in granting the company summary judgment.
Jean had suffered a workplace injury but when her Workers' Comp leave was denied, she was supposed to send her medical records in to justify Family and Medical Leave Act time off.
She never did and dozens of absences went unexcused, subjecting her to termination under company policy limiting them to five per six-month period.
Jean argued information regarding FMLA leave, including the requirement she send in her own medical information, were sent to her interpreter's email. The interpreter over the phone had given that email to Walmart's Workers' Comp and FMLA administrator, Sedgwick Claims Management Services.
She didn't argue that Sedgwick wrongfully used the email to contact her, nor that her interpreter had intentionally sabotaged her.
"What Plaintiff is really attempting to do, then, is disavow the information that her interpreter provided without being candid that that is, in fact, her position," Rosenberg said.
"Indeed, what is Plaintiff's argument. It's not that her interpreter is a rogue agent. It's not that she did not select her interpreter. It's not that her interpreter gave Defendant false information or provided answers to questions without authorization.
"It's not even that she was not physically present when the interpreter was speaking. Plaintiff simply does not want to be bound by her interpreter's answer, even though the email provided to Defendant was a direct result of Plaintiff's actions (through her selection of the interpreter)."
Rosenberg called this an "unreasonable proposition."
Jean was a stocker at the Lake Park store for five years, until she was fired in May 2023. Three months earlier, she suffered a workplace injury that sent her to Walmart's designated Workers' Comp medical provider.
She was released to work with a restriction that she be required to lift less than five pounds. On Feb. 13, 2023, she called Sedgwick, and her interpreter gave his email for future communications.
For Workers' Comp leave, the companies would pull her medical records directly from the provider. On April 11, 2023, it was determined that she was not eligible for that type of leave because the doctor had released her to work with the lifting restriction.
Sedgwick converted her leave request to FMLA, which does require the applicant to send in his or her own medical information. This information was sent to her in an email to the interpreter's email address.
She either never saw the information or chose not to respond to it. She missed a May 2 deadline but was given a second chance to provide her medical records. That never happened.
By May 18, 2023, she had racked up 37 unexcused absences and was fired.
She sued Walmart two months later, claiming FMLA interference and retaliation, claiming Walmart had expressly told her not to send in her medical information.
All arguments were rejected by Rosenberg.
"Because Plaintiff never provided a completed certification form to Sedgwick, under FMLA regulations, 'the leave is not FMLA leave,'" she wrote.
"Therefore, Plaintiff was not entitled toa benefit under the FMLA..."
The Saenz Law Firm represented Jean, while Derek Sparks and Christine Manzo of Liebler, Gonzalez & Portuondo represented Walmart.