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Cendant Corp. v. Commissioner of Labor10/25/2005
eave so that Yee could learn Persky's responsibilities with the Sidewalk unit. Persky began her leave on January 25, 1999. During her leave, Persky attempted to communicate with Wargotz through telephone calls and e-mail to remain current on developments with the Sidewalk unit, but Wargotz did not respond to her correspondence. Persky successfully had maintained contact with management during her previous maternity leaves, and she always had returned to the same or a better position after those leaves. Persky expected to return to her position at Sidewalk following her leave.
In February, 1999, while Persky was on leave, Microsoft exercised its option to purchase the Sidewalk unit from the plaintiff. The plaintiff and Microsoft subsequently entered into a transition agreement, which voided the prior June, 1998 agreement, and set forth the terms of the sale of the Sidewalk unit to Microsoft. The transition agreement provided that the transition process would be completed by December, 1999. Wargotz informed Persky of the sale of the Sidewalk unit in March, 1999, and stated that he was no longer her manager. Following the reorganization of the plaintiff's management structure after the sale of Sidewalk, Persky was offered the opportunity to apply for several positions with the plaintiff, but no specific replacement position explicitly was offered to her. In July, 1999, a representative of the plaintiff informed Persky that it interpreted her failure to accept any of the other positions as indicating her voluntary resignation from the plaintiff.
In November, 1999, Persky filed a complaint with the state department of labor (department), alleging that the plaintiff had violated certain provisions of the leave statute by failing to reinstate her to her previous position following her maternity leave. Following a contested case hearing, the administrative hearing officer issued a proposed decision in September, 2002, concluding that the plaintiff had violated the leave statute and awarding damages to Persky. The plaintiff subsequently filed objections and exceptions to the hearing officer's decision, and the commissioner heard arguments concerning those objections and exceptions. The commissioner thereafter affirmed the hearing officer's decision, incorporating her findings of fact and conclusions of law into his final decision.
The plaintiff appealed from the commissioner's decision to the trial court. The trial court thereafter concluded that the commissioner properly had determined that the plaintiff had violated the leave statute and had used the correct analytical framework in deciding Persky's interference claim. The trial court further concluded that there was substantial evidence in the record to support the commissioner's conclusions that Persky's position continued to exist after her leave, that Yee held that position, and that the plaintiff had no legitimate business reason for failing to reinstate Persky. The trial court therefore dismissed the plaintiff's appeal.
The plaintiff appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the Appellate Court pursuant to General Statutes § 4-184, and we thereafter transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (c) and Practice Book § 65-1. With this factual background in mind, we turn to the plaintiff's claims. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.
I.
Because we previously have not addressed the state and federal leave laws in detail, we begin with a brief overview of their history and framework. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq. (FMLA), is a federal statute that was enacted in response to "serious problems with the discretionary
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