North Star Steel Co. v. Thomas, 515 U.S. 29, 8 (1995)

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36

NORTH STAR STEEL CO. v. THOMAS

Opinion of the Court

"hybrid" claims brought by an employee against both his employer and his union, for the reason that the state-law candidates "typically provide[d] very short times" for suit (generally 90 days) and thus "fail[ed] to provide an aggrieved employee with a satisfactory opportunity to vindicate his rights." Id., at 166, and n. 15. Here, the shortest of the arguably usable state periods, however, is two years, which is not short enough to frustrate an employee seeking relief under WARN. At the other end, even the longest of the periods, six years, is not long enough to frustrate the interest in "a relatively rapid disposition of labor disputes." See Automobile Workers, supra, at 707 (borrowing a 6-year state limitations period for claims brought under § 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act).

We do not take petitioners to disagree seriously, for the heart of their argument is not that the state periods are too long or too short. They submit instead that, if we look to state law, WARN litigation presents undue risks of forum shopping, such that we ought to pick a uniform federal rule for all claims (with the NLRA, and its 6-month limitations period for unfair labor practices claims, 29 U. S. C. § 160(b), being the federal Act most analogous to WARN). But even taking petitioners on their own terms, they make no case for choosing the exception over the rule. They are right, of course, that the practice of adopting state statutes of limitations for federal causes of action can result in different limitations periods in different States for the same federal action, and correct that some plaintiffs will canvass the variations and shop around for a forum. But these are just the costs of the rule itself, and nothing about WARN makes them exorbitant.

It is, indeed, true that "practicalities of litigation" influenced our rationale for adopting a uniform federal rule for civil actions under RICO. Agency Holding Corp., supra, at 153. But WARN's obligations are triggered by a "plant closing" or a "mass layoff" at a "single site of employment,"

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