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Cendant Corp. v. Commissioner of Labor10/25/2005
In this appeal, we are asked to determine the proper framework for analyzing a claim of interference with an employee's right to reinstatement under the Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Law, General Statutes ยง 31-51kk et seq. (leave statute). The plaintiff, Cendant Corporation, appeals from the trial court's judgment dismissing its appeal from a decision of the commissioner of labor (commissioner). The commissioner concluded that the plaintiff had violated the leave statute by failing to reinstate the defendant Kim Persky to her position with the plaintiff following a maternity leave. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the trial court improperly affirmed the commissioner's decision because the commissioner employed an incorrect analytical framework in reaching his conclusion and because several of the factual findings made by the commissioner were not supported by substantial evidence. Specifically, the plaintiff claims on appeal that the trial court improperly affirmed the commissioner's decision because: (1) the commissioner incorrectly employed a strict liability standard in analyzing Persky's claim; (2) the commissioner improperly failed to allocate to Persky the burden of proving a causal connection between her leave and her loss of employment; (3) the evidence does not support the commissioner's conclusion that there was a causal connection between Persky's leave and her loss of employment; and (4) the evidence does not support the commissioner's conclusion that Persky would have retained her employment had she not taken leave. We disagree, and, accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The trial court relied on the following facts from the administrative record. The plaintiff is a corporation that provides global business and consumer services, and was created following the merger of two other corporate entities in 1997. Persky had been employed by one of the plaintiff's predecessors and continued to be a part of the management team with the plaintiff following the merger. In May, 1998, Persky was promoted to the position of vice president and general manager of the plaintiff's "Sidewalk" business unit, which was created as a result of a joint venture between the plaintiff and Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft). The plaintiff's role in the joint venture was to provide a sales force to generate advertising revenue to support the Sidewalk website, which provided city-specific content related to entertainment, merchants, and other services. Persky oversaw the operations of the Sidewalk unit and managed the profits and losses of the unit.
The Sidewalk unit was changed to a vendor-vendee relationship by written agreement in June, 1998. In that agreement, the plaintiff granted Microsoft the option to purchase the Sidewalk sales force. The agreement provided that, if Microsoft exercised this option, the plaintiff would use reasonable efforts to ensure a successful transition of the unit to Microsoft. Peter Atkins, a general manager at Microsoft, was Persky's Microsoft counterpart on the Sidewalk project. Persky and two of her employees had difficulty working with Atkins due to his lack of cooperation in managing the Sidewalk project.
In November, 1998, Persky began reporting to Michael Wargotz, the president and chief executive officer of the plaintiff's lifestyles division, which included the Sidewalk unit. Persky immediately informed Wargotz of the difficulties of working on the Sidewalk project with Atkins. Persky also notified Wargotz that she would be requesting a maternity leave beginning in January, 1999. Jonathan Yee was thereafter selected to perform Persky's job while she was on leave. Persky and Yee worked together closely until Persky went on l
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