Hibbs

MEMORANDUM **

1. Under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), Pub.L. No. 103-3, 107 Stat. 6 (codified at 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601-2654 ), defendants were entitled to “require the[ir] employee[s] to substitute any of the accrued paid vacation leave, personal leave, or family leave of the employee for [FMLA leave] for any part of the 12-week period of such leave.” 29 U.S.C. § 2612 (d)(2)(A). Hibbs received sufficient notice that his paid Catastrophic Leave was being substituted for his FMLA leave. He does not dispute receiving two such notices, both of which were nearly identical to the notice recommended by the federal regulations. See 29 C.F.R. § 825 app. D (“Prototype Notice: Employer Response to Employee Request for Family and Medical Leave”).

In any event, inadequate notice of the FMLA provisions would not, by itself, entitle Hibbs to additional leave. See Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide, Inc., 535 U.S. 81 , 90 — 91, 122 S.Ct. 1155 , 152 L.Ed.2d 167 (2002). The protections of the FMLA — entitling an employee to return to his job as if he had never left, with equivalent pay, benefits and other terms of employment — do not survive the expiration of the twelve-week FMLA…