According to the lawsuit, AT&T ranks its employees by total absences each month. AT&T calculates its employees’ absences using a “total absence policy” whereby all absences,including AT&T-designated Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) protected leave, are the basis for the rankings. When AT&T determines that an employee is in the bottom 30% of its attendance records based on its monthly total absence calculations, its policy is to “black list” the so-called “FMLA abuser” and target the employee for termination. AT&T’s policy is therefore to consider AT&T -designated FMLA-protected leave as a negative factor in its adverse employment decisions.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf AT&T customer service representatives and “Levell” Managers (“Class Members”) for AT&T’s alleged violations of the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”).