Cite as: 515 U. S. 29 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
153, 156; DelCostello, supra, at 171-172. But the reference to federal law is the exception, and we decline to follow a state limitations period "only 'when a rule from elsewhere in federal law clearly provides a closer analogy than available state statutes, and when the federal policies at stake and the practicalities of litigation make that rule a significantly more appropriate vehicle for interstitial lawmaking.' " Reed, supra, at 324, quoting DelCostello, supra, at 172.
B
These cases fall squarely inside the rule, not the exception. The presumption that state law will be the source of a missing federal limitations period was already "longstanding," Agency Holding Corp., 483 U. S., at 147, when WARN was passed in 1988, justifying the assumption that Congress "intend[ed] by its silence that we borrow state law," ibid. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals identified four Pennsylvania statutes of limitations that might apply to WARN claims: the 2-year period for enforcing civil penalties generally, Pa. Stat. Ann., Tit. 42, § 5524(5) (Purdon 1981 and 1994 Supp.); the 3-year period for claims under the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law, Pa. Stat. Ann., Tit. 43, § 260.9a(g) (Purdon 1992); the 4-year period for breach of an implied contract, Pa. Stat. Ann., Tit. 42, § 5525(4) (Purdon 1981); and the six years under the residual statute of limitations, Pa. Stat. Ann., Tit. 42, § 5527 (Purdon 1981 and 1994 Supp.). See 32 F. 3d, at 61. Since the complaints in both Crown Cork and North Star were timely even under the shortest of these, there is no need to go beyond the decision of the Court of Appeals to choose the best of four, and it is enough to say here that none of these potentially applicable statutes would be "at odds" with WARN's "purpose or operation," or " 'frustrate or interfere with' " the intent behind it. DelCostello, 462 U. S., at 161.
The contrast with DelCostello is clear. There the Court declined to borrow state limitations periods for so-called
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