This Law Firm Publication by Jackson Lewis P.C. addresses Leticia Bareno v. San Diego Community College District, in which the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District held that before an employee who has exceeded her scheduled medical leave can be declared to have "voluntarily resigned" her position, an employer must carefully scrutinize all communication from itself and the employee concerning the leave period. In Bareno, the appeals court reversed a district court's grant of summary judgment for an employer that, after allegedly not receiving an employee's email about her need for extended leave (but receiving her other communication), had argued that the extra time off constituted the employee's "voluntary resignation."