In the case of Daniel Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Maryland et al., 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state employees cannot sue their employers for money damages for self-care leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The petitioner, Daniel Coleman, was an employee at the Court of Appeals in Maryland who requested sick leave and was subsequently fired when he returned to work. He sued his employer claiming a violation of FMLA's "self-care" provision which allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave per year due to serious health conditions. However, by a vote of 5-4 majority decision led by Justice Kennedy, it held that Congress did not have power under Section Five of Fourteenth Amendment to abrogate states' immunity from suits for damages in such cases as they were not identified as pattern discrimination against women or gender-based employment discrimination.

In the dissenting opinion for Daniel Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Maryland, Justice Ginsburg argued that the majority's decision to deny state workers the right to sue their employers for money damages under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was inconsistent with previous court rulings and Congress' intent in passing ADA. She emphasized that states should not be immune from suits brought by employees who were discriminated against based on disability, as this would undermine federal efforts to combat such discrimination. Furthermore, she pointed out that there is a significant record of state governments failing to comply with anti-discrimination laws related to disability. Thus, allowing individuals to seek monetary damages would serve as an important deterrent against noncompliance and provide a necessary remedy for victims of discrimination.