Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EMPLOYEE LEAVE—N.D. Ala.: Police captain moved to night shift can’t advance FMLA interference or outrage tort claims, (Dec 16, 2025)

By Molly Platnick

The court denied the Birmingham police chief qualified immunity but tossed the employee’s FMLA and tort claims.

A federal district court in Alabama granted in part and denied in part a police chief’s motion to dismiss in a case brought by a captain who was transferred to the night shift while taking care of his sick mother. The captain alleged the chief interfered with his FMLA rights, retaliated against him, and engaged in the tort of outrage. In the instant motion, the chief raised lack of subject matter jurisdiction, qualified immunity, and failure to state a claim. The court ruled it had supplemental jurisdiction over all claims and denied the chief qualified immunity. The captain did not have sufficient evidence to show the chief interfered with his FMLA leave or that his conduct was extreme enough to meet the strict standard for outrage (Jackson v. City of Birmingham, No. 2:25-cv-00630-RDP (N.D. Ala. Dec. 10, 2025)).

The captain worked for the City of Birmingham’s police force for 32 years. His “normal” shift was during the day, and captains are generally not required to work shifts “other than the normal day shift.” In January 2025, though, the Chief of Police assigned the captain to start working nights and allegedly assigned him to “perform the work normally done by lieutenants, including covering all four police precincts.” At this time, the captain was under “ongoing FMLA status” to care for his mother.

The captain claimed the police chief has a personal vendetta against him and contended his transfer to the night shift was a ploy to “coerce him to retire.” The captain interpreted questions about whether he had properly filed his requests for FMLA leave as retaliatory and to avoid disciplinary action or termination, he began to use sick leave and vacation time to get out of night shifts. He also allegedly hired caregivers to look after his mother at night.

Grievance. The captain filed a grievance with the county’s Personnel Board in January 2025, and the county responded in March. The captain alleged his transfer to the night shift violated the police department’s seniority rules and regulations. An administrative hearing was held in September, but the Personnel Board would not issue its decision until mid-December and informed the parties it would not consider any FMLA issues.

The captain brought this action against the City of Birmingham and the police chief, individually and in his professional capacity. In September, he amended his complaint, asserting interference with his FMLA rights, retaliation, and, against the chief only, outrage for intentional infliction of emotional harm. The police chief filed the instant motion to dismiss.

Supplemental jurisdiction over individual capacity claims. The outrage/IIED claim was the only claim against the police chief in his individual capacity. A district court has supplemental jurisdiction over all claims related to the “same case and controversy” over which it has original jurisdiction. Claims are part of the same case and controversy if they “arise out of a common nucleus of operative fact.” Here, the captain’s outrage/IIED claim arose out of a common nucleus of operative fact as his FMLA claims. Because the court had subject matter over the FMLA claims, it could exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the tort claims.

Qualified immunity. The chief argued he was entitled to qualified immunity from the captain’s FMLA claims in his official capacity. However, Congress has limited qualified immunity in FMLA cases to government officials sued in their individual capacities. As stated above, the captain brought all claims other than outrage/IIED against the chief in his official capacity.

FMLA interference. The captain alleged the police chief interfered with his FMLA rights by transferring him to the night shift. He believed the chief placed him under these “onerous conditions” to pressure him to retire. To plead FMLA interference, an employee must show he was denied an FMLA benefit to which he was entitled and was prejudiced by the violation. In Diamond v. Hospice of Fla. Keys, the Eleventh Circuit held discouraging an employee from using FMLA leave may also constitute interference. Here, the captain was granted leave to take care of his mother but argued being put on the night shift was meant to discourage him from taking leave. The court acknowledged the hardship of being transferred to night shifts but found no evidence the change in schedule did or was intended to discourage the captain from taking leave.

Outrage/IIED. Finally, the court addressed whether the police chief committed the tort of outrage when he transferred the captain to night shift, while aware of how it would impact the captain’s mental health. Outrage is conduct that is (1) intentional or reckless, (2) extreme and outrageous, (3) caused emotional distress so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure it.” The Alabama Supreme Cout has recognized outrage in only three contexts: “wrongful conduct in the family burial; barbaric methods employed to coerce an insurance settlement, egregious sexual harassment.”

Alabama courts, however, have been willing to extend outrage in limited circumstances where conduct is “so extreme in a degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized society.” This dispute does not fall within the three enumerated categories and, the court did not find a transfer to night shift “extreme and outrageous.” The court noted there was no precedent for an employee who had not been terminated proceeding on an outrage claim.

The case is No. 2:25-cv-00630-RDP.

Judge: Proctor, R.

Attorneys: William M. Dawson (Dawson Law Office) for James B. Jackson. Samantha A. Chandler, Office of the City Attorney, for City of Birmingham, Alabama, and Michael Pickett.

Cases: EmployeeLeave TortClaims Retaliation PublicEmployees Procedure AlabamaNews