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Municipality of Anchorage v. Gregg11/12/2004
No. 5842
I. INTRODUCTION
Theresa Gregg sued the Municipality of Anchorage and her supervisor, Sgt. Marc Woodward, for violating her right to protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In a bench trial, the superior court found that the Municipality had violated the Act by refusing Gregg leave while she was incapacitated by a "serious health condition": the combined effect of her pregnancy, injuries from a car accident, and severe emotional stress. The Municipality appeals, disputing Gregg's qualification for the FMLA's protection, the factual findings of the trial court, and its award of damages. Gregg cross-appeals that she was improperly denied liquidated damages. Both parties assert that the court's calculation of interest on Gregg's award was erroneous. We affirm the trial court's judgment that the Municipality violated Gregg's right to protected leave under the Act, correct two errors in the court's calculation of damages, and remand for reconsideration of the award of prejudgment and postjudgment interest and liquidated damages.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
In this case the superior court made extensive findings of fact. The thrust of the Municipality's appeal is that some of these findings are in error and cannot support the trial court's decision. We summarize the record and the court's findings as follows.
The Anchorage Police Department (APD) hired Theresa Gregg (formerly Wimer) in March of 1995. In late 1996 Gregg transferred to the APD's warrant section, where her supervisor was Sgt. Marc Woodward. Gregg's employment record was excellent, and she was held in high regard by her fellow officers.
In January 1997 Gregg was involved in a car accident. At the time of this accident, Gregg was married to Michael Wimer but was approximately two-and-a-half months pregnant with a child by her current husband, APD officer Jeffery Gregg. On January 10, Woodward placed Gregg on sick leave status because of her car accident injuries.
During this leave, Gregg's husband, Michael Wimer, an Army JAG officer, was arrested for threatening to kill Jeffery Gregg. The trial court summarized the events leading to Wimer's arrest as follows:
Theresa was married to Michael Wimer and they had two minor children . . . . Theresa described her marriage to Michael as an unhappy marriage. It involved domestic violence where Michael was mentally abusive and exercised extreme control over all facets of her life. Theresa became involved in an extra-marital affair with another police officer, Jeffery Gregg, with whom she became pregnant. When Michael discovered that Theresa was pregnant with Gregg's child, he called Gregg and threatened him. Gregg filed a criminal complaint against Wimer and an arrest warrant was issued. Theresa felt that she was in a hostage situation with Michael and cooperated with APD to get Michael in a "disadvantaged situation" in a public place for the arrest to take place. The arrest took place at the Buckner Field House at Fort Richardson military base.
The parties stipulated that during January, three different health care providers treated Gregg. Dr. Cynthia Brooke examined Gregg for her pregnancy, and in a letter dated January 14, requested that "lighter duties be assigned to [Gregg] for the remainder of her pregnancy." Dr. Ronald Firth examined her accident injuries and released her back to full, unrestricted duties as of January 27. Gregg was still suffering pain from her accident injuries and saw Dr. Firth again on January 28. On this visit she also discussed the stress of her marriage. Dr. Firth prescribed her Valium. Although she was technically released back to
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