82
Syllabus
she would have acted in the same manner had notice been given and can sue if not granted the additional leave. Pp. 86-89.
(b) This penalty is incompatible with the FMLA's remedial mechanism. To prevail under § 2617, an employee must prove that the employer violated § 2615 by interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of FMLA rights. Even then, § 2617 provides no relief unless the employee has been prejudiced by the violation. In contrast, § 825.700(a) establishes an irrebuttable presumption that the employ-ee's exercise of FMLA rights was restrained. There is no empirical or logical basis for this presumption, as the facts of this case demonstrate. Ragsdale has not shown that she would have taken less, or intermittent, leave had she received the required notice. In fact her physician did not clear her to work until long after her 30-week leave period had ended. Blind to the reality that she would have taken the entire 30-week absence even had Wolverine complied with the notice regulations, § 825.700(a) required the company to give her 12 more weeks and rendered it liable under § 2617 when it denied her request and terminated her. The regulation fundamentally alters the FMLA's cause of action by relieving employees of the burden of proving any real impairment of their rights and resulting prejudice. The Government claims that its categorical rule is easier to administer than a fact-specific inquiry, but Congress chose a remedy requiring the retrospective, case-by-case examination the Secretary now seeks to eliminate. The regulation instructs courts to ignore § 2617's command that employees prove impairment of their statutory rights and resulting harm. Agencies are not authorized to contravene Congress' will in this manner. Cf. Mourning v. Family Publications Service, Inc., 411 U. S. 356. Pp. 89-92.
(c) Section 825.700(a) would be an unreasonable choice even if the Secretary were authorized to circumvent the FMLA's remedial provisions for the sake of administrative convenience. Categorical rules reflect broad generalizations holding true in so many cases that inquiry into whether they apply to the case at hand would be needless and wasteful. However, when the generalizations fail to hold in the run of cases, as is true here, the justification for the categorical rule disappears. See, e. g., State Oil Co. v. Khan, 522 U. S. 3, 8-22. Pp. 92-93.
(d) Inasmuch as the Secretary's penalty will have no substantial relation to the harm to the employee in the run of cases, it also amends the FMLA's fundamental guarantee of entitlement to a "total" of 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period, a compromise between employers who wanted fewer weeks and employees who wanted more. Courts
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