William Hibbs, United States of America, Intervenor v. Department of Human Resources Charlotte Crawford Nikki Firpo

William Hibbs brought suit in district court against the Nevada Department of Human Resources, its director, Charlotte Crawford, and Hibbs’ supervisor, Nikki Firpo (collectively “Defendants”), for violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ( “FMLA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601-2654 , and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as various state-law claims. He timely appeals the district court’s grant of Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on his federal claims and the dismissal without prejudice of his state-law claims. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

I. BACKGROUND

Hibbs was an employee of the Nevada Department of Human Resources, Welfare Division (the ‘Welfare Division”). In April and May 1997, he requested leave to care for his ailing wife. His request was approved for the full 480 hours (12 weeks) of leave under the FMLA, to be used intermittently, as needed, between May 1, 1997, and December 31, 1997.

In June 1997, Hibbs requested 379.8 hours of “catastrophic leave,” and he was granted 200 hours of such leave. He was informed that the leave would “be counted against [his] annual FMLA leave entitlement.” In September 1997,…