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Who can, can't talk under Family, Medical Leave Act
One of the most intriguing questions of today's news conference will be why Lute Olson did not speak while on a 12-week leave afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act.
FMLA is a 1993 law that affords up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for employees to treat a serious health condition or one in their family, or for the birth, adoption or care of a child.
Olson has said he was told by UA administrators not to speak while on FMLA. UA athletic director Jim Livengood said Monday he could not say if he told Olson to stay mum.
Don Awerkamp, a Tucson-based employment lawyer, said it would be in the UA's best interest if it told Olson not to speak while on FMLA.
"If you have a public figure like Lute, if the employer can't talk about it, the employer might say, 'I don't want you to talk about it,'" he said.
Employers must respect an employee's privacy while on FMLA, but there is nothing in the law that would have prevented Olson from speaking.
"On the other hand, if the employee is out there talking about it, it creates a real problem for the employer if the employer can't comment about it, if there is some kind of issue," Awerkamp said.
"If there's a controversial issue going on — and the public is concerned whether it was a good decision or not on the part of the employer — the employer really can't very easily defend themselves in the press without issues being raised in violation of confidentiality," he said.
Attorney Richard M. Martinez said that, while "we're a nosy society," the issue of privacy does not change just because of public interest in Olson.
"The size of his salary or the size of his stature doesn't diminish his rights," Martinez said.
Today
• What: Lute Olson news conference
• Where: McKale Center
• When: Noon
• TV: Fox Sports Net Arizona

UA Sports

ARIZONA BASKETBALL

Olson can set the record straight today

By Bruce Pascoe
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.01.2008
The blurry nature of Lute Olson's season-long leave of absence may become clearer today.
The Arizona Wildcats basketball coach is scheduled to hold a regionally televised news conference at noon, during which he is expected to face further questions about his leave and the future of his program.
Olson told the Star on Sunday he left the Wildcats because he was under too much stress and anxiety to be able to give a fair effort to the team. After staying publicly silent on the issue from when he left the team Nov. 4 until he announced his return March 10, Olson has given slightly varying accounts of what kept him away.
Olson said he does not plan to offer any more details today on what prompted his leave.
"I'll have the press conference to respond to any questions that come up," Olson said. "Other than that, I'm not going to" discuss it further.
The news conference will be Olson's first since UA's preseason media day on Oct. 23. He also spoke at Pac-10 media day in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, then began his leave of absence Nov. 4, the day of the Wildcats' first exhibition game.
UA athletic director Jim Livengood said the news conference was called in conjunction with one held last week by Kevin O'Neill, who served as the Wildcats' interim head coach last season. Last week's was intended to wrap up the season, and today's event was intended to look ahead, Livengood said.
O'Neill was asked, however, mostly about his future and his relationship with Olson. Today's news conference could very well look backward to Nov. 4.
"That depends on you guys and the questions that are asked," Livengood said.
Olson's statements and interviews since his leave of absence have invited questions:
● In his initial Nov. 4 statement he said the reason he left was not because of "a health scare but rather a personal matter that needs my undivided attention."
● He returned to several practices starting Nov. 26, saying he wanted to see how he felt but reiterated his statement that "there were personal matters to take care of."
● On Dec. 6, Olson said he would extend his leave for the rest of the season and cited "personal issues within our family." On the same day, he filed for divorce from his wife, Christine, who issued a statement of her own saying that she would "continue to support my husband through this difficult time in his life."
● Upon announcing his return March 10, Olson issued a statement saying he had a "medical condition."
● Since his return to work March 24, Olson has given interviews citing the divorce as a reason for his leave but not the entire reason.
He has said the athletic department told him not to talk about the leave.
● On March 30, he said did not acknowledge any medical issues because Christine Olson's public relations firm bungled the Nov. 4 release.
"It was never my P.R. firm, wasn't then and never will be," Olson said.
Olson said he originally intended to disclose a medical condition that was not a health scare on the Nov. 4 release, but the statement was edited to reflect only that it was not a health scare.
The head of Christine Olson's Phoenix-based public relations firm, Gordon C. James, declined to comment Monday.
"It's best just left unsaid," James said. "It doesn't make any sense. I can't see anything to be gained by saying anything."
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