093473P.pdf   08/26/2010  Susan Murphy  v.  FedEx National LTL, Inc.
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  09-3473
                          and No:  09-3518
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis   
   [PUBLISHED] [Melloy, Author, with Hansen and Smith, Circuit Judges]
   Civil case - Family Medical Leave Act. An employer who makes an
   affirmative representation that an employee reasonably and detrimentally
   believed was a grant of FMLA leave can be estopped from later arguing
   that the employee was not in fact entitled to that leave because she did
   not suffer a serious health condition; on remand, the district court should
   instruct the jury that, in order to return a verdict for plaintiff, it is 
   required to find that she reasonably believed that defendant represented 
   that it granted her FMLA leave rather than some other kind of relief; in 
   order to find for the plaintiff, the jury must find that the employee 
   reasonably believed, based on the totality of the circumstances, that the 
   employer's approval was for FMLA leave; given the totality of the 
   circumstances in this case in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, a 
   reasonable jury could find that she put her employer on notice that she was 
   requesting FMLA leave; a jury could reasonably find that it was reasonable 
   for plaintiff to rely on defendant's representation that leave was 
   authorized; as a result, defendant was not entitled to judgment as a matter 
   of law on the issue of estoppel.