Rose Pope v. Fulton County Government

── Rose Pope v. Fulton County Government ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: May 29, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 25-11794 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 05/29/2026 Page: 1 of 10 NOT FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 25-11794 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ ROSE POPE, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus FULTON COUNTY GOVERNMENT, Defendant-Appellee, FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, et al., Defendants. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:23-cv-05055-LMM ____________________ Before JILL PRYOR, BRANCH, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: USCA11 Case: 25-11794 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 05/29/2026 Page: 2 of 10 2 Opinion of the Court 25-11794 Rose Pope appeals the dismissal of her Americans with Dis- abilities Act (“ADA”), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), and Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) claims against the Fulton County Government (“Fulton County”) at the summary judgment stage. Specifically, she argues that the district court erred when it held that Fulton County was not her employer for the purposes of her lawsuit. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.1 I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Pope worked as an intake specialist for the Fulton County Juvenile Court’s (“Juvenile Court”) intake unit from 2015 to 2022. Her duties in this capacity included answering phone calls from po- lice stations with juveniles in custody, entering juveniles’ infor- mation into the court’s electronic records system, and determining whether the juveniles could be detained. Pope, like other Juvenile Court intake specialists, was paid from Fulton County’s coffers, worked in a Fulton County building and used a Fulton County key card to access that building, and was expected to comply with the Fulton County Standards of Conduct Policy and Procedure. During her employment, Pope faced various health difficul- ties. In 2021, Pope was diagnosed with degenerative arthritis in her left knee, which required her to undergo knee replacement sur- gery. Pope was granted FMLA leave for that surgery in April 2021 1 On November 18, 2025, Pope filed a motion to file a supplemental reply brief. We deny her motion as moot. See Fla. Ass’n of Rehab. Facilities, Inc. v. Fla. Dep’t of Health & Rehab. Servs., 225 F.3d 1208, 1217 (11th Cir. 2000). USCA11 Case: 25-11794 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 05/29/2026 Page: 3 of 10 25-11794 Opinion of the Court 3 and returned to work three months later. Upon return, Pope re- quested, but was denied, disability accommodations. In 2022, she was diagnosed again with degenerative arthritis, but this time for her right knee. Pope requested FMLA leave for knee surgery in June 2022 and was approved to take leave from August 2022 to Oc- tober 2022. At the same time, Pope’s employment record at the Juvenile Court was not perfect. From at least March 2021, Pope’s cowork- ers lodged complaints against her for passing off work