Legal Question in Employment Law in Georgia

The question of whether you should settle is one that will depend on a number of factors.The second attorney may or may not be right, depending on the strength of your evidence that the employer willfully violated the FMLA by discriminating against you for taking the FMLA leave. Under the FMLA you can receive damages which include back pay, plus the same amount as liquidated damages, plus attorneys fees. In addition, you also can get reinstatement. You don't get "front pay unless the court concludes that reinstatement is impossible, or if a court decided it would create a greater injustice to reinstate you and displace another innocent employee. In such cases the court can award you front pay in lieu of reinstatement. In either case you win your attorney's fees. A violation of the FMLA may also be accompanied by a violation of the ADA. In the case where you also can prove the ADA violation you also can win back pay (but if you have received the backpay and liquidated damages for the FMLA violation, the court won't award additional backpay a third time); you also can win compensatory and punitive damages ranging from $50,000 to $300,000, depending on the number of employees the employer has. The settlement offered through the Labor Department certainly is a compromise and not the full amount that you might win if you sued. It isn't clear from what you write whether you are getting the liquidated damages portion along with the back pay, or if you are being reimbursed for your attorneys fees. But the settlement amount is money in hand "as opposed to a "bird in the bush"), and you would be getting it sooner rather than waiting 2 years for the conclusion of litigation. Additionally, if you hired an attorney to represent you in the FMLA claim, the attorney may have an attorneys lien claim against any amount that you receive in a settlement. Thus, if you decide to accept the offer on the table, make sure your employer is required to pay your attorneys fees.

Michael A. Caldwell

404-979-3154