Montclair State Immune From Former Employee’s FMLA Suit

Montclair State University is immune from a former employee’s claims that she was unlawfully denied reinstatement to her old job when she returned from medical leave for breast cancer treatment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled (Maliandi v. Montclair State Univ., 2016 BL 431000, 3d Cir., No. 14-3812, 12/27/16).

The ruling is important because it answers a question that has bedeviled federal trial court judges in the circuit: whether Montclair State is an arm of the state of New Jersey for purposes of 11th Amendment immunity. The U.S. Supreme Court has read the 11th ...