Employees who win FMLA lawsuits almost always prove one of two things: their employer interfered with leave they were entitled to, or their employer punished them for using it. Successful FMLA cases won by employees have produced six- and seven-figure awards built from lost wages, an equal amount in liquidated damages, front pay or reinstatement, and mandatory attorney’s fees. The statute lists what a winner can collect, and it also draws a firm line around what it will not pay for.
The Two Ways Employees Win
Nearly every successful FMLA claim is either an interference claim or a retaliation claim. They sound similar and often arise from the same facts, but they require different proof.
Interference
An interference claim means the employer blocked an eligible employee from exercising FMLA rights. The statute makes it unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise or attempted exercise of any FMLA right.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2615 – Prohibited Acts The employee does not have to prove the employer intended to punish anyone. It’s enough to show the employer’s actions actually prevented or discouraged protected leave.
The most common winning theories: outright denial of a leave request, refusal to restore the employee to the same or an equivalent position after leave, and demands for medical documentation beyond what the law allows. Once an employer receives a complete and sufficient medical certification, it cannot keep asking for more.2U.S. Department of Labor. Information for Health Care Providers to Complete a Certification Under the FMLA Employees have also won after being fired hours before approved leave ended, and after employers miscalculated remaining leave entitlement and terminated them for absences that were still protected.
Intermittent leave produces a large share of interference wins. Federal regulations prohibit counting FMLA leave under no-fault attendance policies and prohibit using FMLA leave as a negative factor in hiring, promotion, or discipline.3eCFR. 29 CFR 825.220 – Protection for Employees Who Request Leave or Otherwise Assert FMLA Rights An employer that assigns attendance points for FMLA-covered absences is violating the statute even without ever formally denying a leave request.
Retaliation
Retaliation is the other winning theory. Here the leave itself may have been granted; the employer punished the employee afterward. The FMLA prohibits discharging or discriminating against anyone for exercising FMLA rights, opposing unlawful practices, or participating in an FMLA proceeding.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2615 – Prohibited Acts Adverse actions that support retaliation include termination, demotion, reduced hours or pay, shift changes that eliminate premium pay, and working conditions made so intolerable a reasonable person would quit.4U.S. Department of Labor. Unlawful Retaliation Under the Laws Enforced by WHD
The employee must show a causal link between using FMLA leave and the adverse action. Timing carries the most weight. When a worker with satisfactory reviews is fired shortly after returning from leave, juries notice. A shifting or pretextual explanation from the employer strengthens the case further.
Real Verdicts Employees Have Won
In Smothers v. Solvay Chemical, a jury awarded $740,535 in lost wages and benefits to an employee fired after supervisors openly criticized his intermittent FMLA leave. The court then doubled the award to $1,481,070 in liquidated damages because the employer failed to demonstrate good faith.
In DaPrato v. Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, a jury awarded $19,777 in back pay and $300,000 in front pay to an employee terminated following surgery leave. The employer argued the employee’s out-of-state trip during leave proved he did not need it, but the court found that reason was pretext. The employee also recovered $200,000 for emotional distress and more than $715,000 in punitive damages under state-law claims filed alongside the FMLA action. The trial court ultimately entered an award topping $1.3 million after adding attorney’s fees and liquidated damages.
Private lawsuits are not the only route. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered $438,000 for two workers illegally terminated by an Alabama manufacturer after they took protected leave.
What a Winning Employee Recovers
The FMLA’s remedies provision spells out exactly what a successful employee can collect.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2617 – Enforcement
Back Pay and Actual Losses
The statute authorizes damages equal to any wages, salary, benefits, or other compensation denied or lost because of the violation. Back pay runs from the date of the violation through the date of judgment, and interest accrues on top at the prevailing rate.
When no wages were actually lost, say because the employer interfered with leave but did not fire anyone, the employee can still recover actual monetary losses, such as out-of-pocket care costs, up to 12 weeks of wages, or 26 weeks in military caregiver situations.
Liquidated Damages That Double the Award
This is where FMLA cases get expensive for employers. On top of lost wages and interest, the court adds an equal amount as liquidated damages, effectively doubling the total. The only way an employer avoids the doubling is by proving it acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds for believing its conduct was lawful. Courts treat that defense skeptically. An employer that fires someone the week they return from approved leave will have a hard time arguing it genuinely believed the termination was legal. In Smothers, the failure of that defense is what turned a $740,535 verdict into $1,481,070.
Front Pay or Reinstatement
If reinstatement is not practical because the relationship is too damaged, the position was eliminated, or the work environment is hostile, the court may award front pay to cover lost future earnings over a reasonable period. Courts also have broad authority to order equitable relief, including reinstatement, promotion, and restoration of the employee’s former responsibilities.
Attorney’s Fees and Costs
The employer pays the employee’s reasonable attorney’s fees, expert witness fees, and court costs in any successful case. This is mandatory. The statute says the court “shall” award these fees, not “may.” That fee-shifting provision is what makes it possible for employees to find attorneys willing to take FMLA cases on contingency or hourly arrangements without a large upfront retainer.
What the FMLA Will Not Pay
Employees often assume an FMLA lawsuit can compensate for emotional suffering or punish the employer with punitive damages. It cannot, at least not under federal law. The FMLA limits recovery to lost compensation, actual monetary losses, liquidated damages, equitable relief, and attorney’s fees. There is no provision for emotional distress damages or punitive damages under the statute itself. Federal courts have consistently held Congress did not intend the FMLA to reach those categories of harm.
That limitation shapes litigation strategy. Employees with strong emotional distress or punitive claims often file parallel state-law claims alongside their FMLA case. In DaPrato, state-law claims added more than $900,000 in emotional distress and punitive damages beyond what the FMLA alone could have produced.
The Threshold That Decides the Case Before the Facts
Every FMLA case starts with the same gating question: were both the employer and the employee covered? If either side falls outside the statute’s reach, the claim fails before the facts matter.
Private-sector employers are covered if they employ 50 or more workers for at least 20 calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2611 – Definitions All public agencies, including local governments and public schools, are covered regardless of headcount.7U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act When related businesses share common management, interrelated operations, centralized control of labor relations, or common ownership, they can be treated as a single employer, and workers at franchise locations and subsidiaries have used that integrated-employer test to establish coverage even when their immediate workplace had fewer than 50 people.8eCFR. 29 CFR 825.104 – Covered Employer
An employee qualifies if three conditions are met: at least 12 months of employment with the employer (they need not be consecutive), at least 1,250 hours of actual work in the 12 months before leave begins, and employment at a location where the employer has 50 or more workers within 75 miles.9U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions The 1,250-hour requirement works out to roughly 24 hours per week on average, which is why many part-time workers fall short. Qualifying reasons include the birth or placement of a child, caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition, the employee’s own serious health condition, and qualifying needs tied to a family member’s military deployment.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2612 – Leave Requirement
What You Have to Do to Keep the Case Strong
The largest verdicts almost always come from cases where the employee followed every procedural step and the employer still violated the law. Skipping those steps gives the employer a legitimate defense.
Notice
For foreseeable leave (a planned surgery, an expected due date, scheduled treatment), give your employer at least 30 days’ advance notice. If 30 days is not possible because circumstances changed or you did not know that far in advance, notify your employer as soon as practicable, generally the same day you learn of the need or the next business day.11eCFR. 29 CFR 825.302 – Employee Notice Requirements for Foreseeable FMLA Leave Skip this step without a good explanation and your employer may delay or deny the leave, and a court will likely find that reasonable.
Medical Certification
When your employer requests medical certification for a serious health condition, you generally have 15 calendar days to provide it. If unforeseeable leave makes that timeline impractical due to extenuating circumstances, be prepared to show why the delay was justified.12eCFR. 29 CFR 825.313 – Failure to Provide Certification Missing this deadline without justification gives the employer a legitimate basis to deny FMLA coverage for that leave.
Looking for Work After a Firing
An employee fired in violation of the FMLA cannot simply stop working and let the back-pay meter run. Courts require terminated employees to make reasonable efforts to find comparable work. If the employer proves that substantially equivalent job opportunities were available and the employee did not pursue them, the damages award is reduced by the amount the employee reasonably could have earned. The burden sits on the employer, so the employee does not have to prove they looked, but the employer can chip away at the award by showing they didn’t. Unemployment benefits, Social Security payments, and pension income are not deducted from an FMLA damages award even if received during the gap.
Filing Deadlines and How to Bring the Case
The clock starts running the moment the employer violates the FMLA. For a private lawsuit, you generally have two years from the date of the last violation to file. If the violation was willful, meaning the employer knew or showed reckless disregard for whether its conduct was unlawful, the deadline extends to three years.13U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor – Enforcement of the FMLA
There are two enforcement paths. You can file a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which investigates and can compel compliance or bring its own lawsuit. Or you can file a private civil action directly, with no requirement to go through the DOL first.14U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 77B – Protection for Individuals Under the FMLA The DOL complaint is straightforward and can be filed online or by calling 1-866-487-9243. The private lawsuit route gives you more control over the case and access to a jury.
Whichever path you choose, document everything before you file. Save emails, text messages, performance reviews, leave request forms, and any written communications about your FMLA leave. The cases that produce the largest awards are almost always the ones where the employee had a paper trail showing exactly what the employer did and when.