Catherwood LibraryILR School

In a five to four decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Labor Department’s practice of granting misinformed and uninformed employees twelve additional weeks of leave in order to penalize employers who fail to make Family and Medical Leave Act regulations clear, is unsupported by federal law. The penalty is part of a 1995 Labor Department regulation requiring employers to inform their employees in writing that company-authorized leave can be counted against the twelve weeks of unpaid leave guaranteed by the FMLA. While the five majority justices struck down the penalty, they left the notice requirement intact and indicated that other means of enforcement may be acceptable.