Cite as: 535 U. S. 81 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
despite her inability to show that Wolverine's actions restrained her exercise of FMLA rights. Section 825.700(a) transformed the company's failure to give notice—along with its refusal to grant her more than 30 weeks of leave—into an actionable violation of § 2615. This regulatory sleight of hand also entitled Ragsdale to reinstatement and back-pay, even though reinstatement could not be said to be "appropriate" in these circumstances and Ragsdale lost no compensation "by reason of" Wolverine's failure to designate her absence as FMLA leave. By mandating these results absent a showing of consequential harm, the regulation worked an end run around important limitations of the statute's remedial scheme.
In defense of the regulation, the Government notes that a categorical penalty requiring the employer to grant more leave is easier to administer than one involving a fact-specific inquiry into what steps the employee would have taken had the employer given the required notice. "Regardless of how serious the problem an administrative agency seeks to address, however, it may not exercise its authority 'in a manner that is inconsistent with the administrative structure that Congress enacted into law.' " FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U. S. 120, 125 (2000) (quoting ETSI Pipeline Project v. Missouri, 484 U. S. 495, 517 (1988)). By its nature, the remedy created by Congress requires the retrospective, case-by-case examination the Secretary now seeks to eliminate. The purpose of the cause of action is to permit a court to inquire into matters such as whether the employee would have exercised his or her FMLA rights in the absence of the employer's actions. To determine whether damages and equitable relief are appropriate under the FMLA, the judge or jury must ask what steps the employee would have taken had circumstances been different—considering, for example, when the employee would have returned to work after taking leave. Though the Secretary could not
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