Cobbs v. Bluemercury, Inc.
District Court, District of Columbia · 2010-10-27
In Cobbs v. Bluemercury, Inc., plaintiff Adele Cobbs sued her former employer under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act and the District of Columbia equivalent, claiming that Bluemercury interfered with her statutory leave rights and retaliated against her by terminating her employment after she missed work due to non-job-related injuries and illnesses. The defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing they had voluntarily accommodated Cobbs’s absences before and after she qualified for statutory leave and that her termination resulted from a company-wide reduction in force rather than her use of leave. The district court granted the motion in full, finding no evidence that the employer denied protected leave or that any alleged interference caused Cobbs compensable harm, and no causal link between her protected activity and the termination decision. The court concluded that the undisputed facts showed legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons for the employment actions and that Cobbs had failed to establish the required elements of her claims.