Federal Court Puts Employee Suit Under Wrong COVID Statute Behind Bars

Now in its 21st week, the Barnes & Thornburg Wage & Hour Practice Group’s COVID-19 related workplace litigation tracker has summarized and catalogued nearly 400 complaints nationwide. More than six months after the filing of the first COVID-19 related complaints featured on our tracker, these cases are beginning to make their way through the courts, as at least three cases have been decided under the FFCRA. One such case on our tracker is Thornberry v. Powell County Detention Center, where Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint because, in the court’s view, she conflated provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s (FFCRA) Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) with the provisions of the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA).