NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES ET AL. v. HIBBS ET AL.

• Decision Date: 27 May 2003
• Citation: 538 U.S. 721
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

OCTOBER TERM, 2002

Syllabus

NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES ET AL. v. HIBBS ET AL.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

No. 01-1368. Argued January 15, 2003-Decided May 27, 2003

Respondent Hibbs (hereinafter respondent), an employee of the Nevada Department of Human Resources (Department), sought leave to care for his ailing wife under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), which entitles an eligible employee to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave annually for the onset of a "serious health condition" in the employee's spouse and for other reasons, 29 U. S. C. § 2612(a)(I)(C). The Department granted respondent's request for the full 12 weeks of FMLA leave, but eventually informed him that he had exhausted that leave and that he must report to work by a certain date. Respondent failed to do so and was terminated. Pursuant to FMLA provisions creating a private right of action to seek both equitable relief and money damages "against any employer (including a public agency)," § 2617(a)(2), that "interfere[d] with, restrain[ed], or den[ied] the exercise of" FMLA rights, § 2615(a)(I), respondent sued petitioners, the Department and two of its officers, in Federal District Court seeking damages and injunctive and declaratory relief for, inter alia, violations of § 2612(a)(I)(C). The court awarded petitioners summary judgment on the grounds that the FMLA claim was barred by the Eleventh Amendment and that respondent's Fourteenth Amendment rights had not been violated. The Ninth Circuit reversed.

Held: State employees may recover money damages in federal court in the event of the State's failure to comply with the FMLA's family-care provision. Congress may abrogate the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit in federal court if it makes its intention to abrogate unmistakably clear in the language of the statute and acts pursuant to a valid exercise of its power under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. See, e. g., Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U. S. 356, 363. The FMLA satisfies the clear statement rule. See Kimel v. Florida Bd. of Regents, 528 U. S. 62, 73-78. Congress also acted within its authority under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment when it sought to abrogate the States' immunity for purposes of the FMLA's family-leave provision. In the exercise of its § 5 power, Congress may enact socalled prophylactic legislation that proscribes facially constitutional con-

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duct in order to prevent and deter unconstitutional conduct, e. g., City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S. 507, 536, but it may not attempt to substantively redefine the States' legal obligations, Kimel, supra, at 88. The test for distinguishing appropriate prophylactic legislation from substantive redefinition is that valid § 5 legislation must exhibit "congruence and proportionality between the injury to be prevented or remedied and the means adopted to that end." City of Boerne, supra, at 520. The FMLA aims to protect the right to be free from gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Statutory classifications that distinguish between males and females are subject to heightened scrutiny, see, e. g., Craig v. Boren, 429 U. S. 190, 197-199; i. e., they must "serv[e] important governmental objectives," and "the discriminatory means employed [must be] substantially related to the achievement of those objectives," United States v. Virginia, 518 U. S. 515, 533. When it enacted the FMLA, Congress had before it significant evidence of a long and extensive history of sex discrimination with respect to the administration of leave benefits by the States, which is weighty enough to justify the enactment of prophylactic § 5 legislation. Cf. Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, 427 U. S. 445, 456. Garrett, supra, and Kimel, supra, in which the Court reached the opposite conclusion, are distinguished on the ground that the § 5 legislation there at issue responded to a purported tendency of state officials to make age- or disability-based distinctions, characteristics that are not judged under a heightened review standard, but pass equal protection muster if there is a rational basis for enacting them. See, e. g., Kimel, supra, at 86. Here, because the standard for demonstrating the constitutionality of a gender-based classification is more difficult to meet than the rational-basis test, it was easier for Congress to show a pattern of state constitutional violations. Cf. South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301, 308-313. The impact of the discrimination targeted by the FMLA, which is based on mutually reinforcing stereotypes that only women are responsible for family caregiving and that men lack domestic responsibilities, is significant. Moreover, Congress' chosen remedy, the FMLA's family-care provision, is "congruent and proportional to the targeted violation," Garrett, supra, at 374. Congress had already tried unsuccessfully to address this problem through Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Where previous legislative attempts have failed, see Katzenbach, supra, at 313, such problems may justify added prophylactic measures in response, Kimel, supra, at 88. By creating an across-the-board, routine employment benefit for all eligible employees, Congress sought to ensure that family-care leave would no longer be stigmatized as an inordinate drain on the workplace caused by female

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employees, and that employers could not evade leave obligations simply by hiring men. Unlike the statutes at issue in City of Boerne, Kimel, and Garrett, which applied broadly to every aspect of state employers' operations, the FMLA is narrowly targeted at the faultline between work and family-precisely where sex-based overgeneralization has been and remains strongest-and affects only one aspect of the employment relationship. Also significant are the many other limitations that Congress placed on the FMLA's scope. See Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Ed. Expense Bd. v. College Savings Bank, 527 U. S. 627, 647. For example, the FMLA requires only unpaid leave, § 2612(a)(1); applies only to employees who have worked for the employer for at least one year and provided 1,250 hours of service within the last 12 months, § 2611(2)(A); and does not apply to employees in high-ranking or sensitive positions, including state elected officials, their staffs, and appointed policymakers, §§2611(2)(B)(i) and (3), 203(e)(2)(C). pp.726-740.

273 F. 3d 844, affirmed.

REHNQUIST, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which O'CONNOR, SOUTER, GINSBURG, and BREYER, JJ., joined. SOUTER, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which GINSBURG and BREYER, JJ., joined, post, p. 740. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 740. SCALIA, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 741. KENNEDY, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA and THOMAS, JJ., joined, post, p.744.

Paul G. Taggart, Deputy Attorney General of Nevada, argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Frankie Sue Del Papa, Attorney General, and Traci L. Lovitt.

Cornelia T. L. Pillard argued the cause for respondent Hibbs. With her on the brief were Jonathan J. Frankel, Judith L. Lichtman, and Treva J. Hearne.

Assistant Attorney General Dinh argued the cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Olson, Assistant Attorneys General Boyd and McCallum, Deputy Solicitor General Clement, Patricia A. Millett, Mark B. Stern, and Kathleen Kane. *

*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of Alabama et al. by Bill Pryor, Attorney General of Alabama, Nathan A. Forrester, Solicitor General, and Charles B. Campbell, Deputy Solicitor Gen-

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CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA or Act) entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave annually for any of several reasons, including the onset of a "serious health condition" in an employee's spouse, child, or parent. 107 Stat. 9, 29 U. S. C. § 2612(a) (l)(C). The Act creates a private right of action to seek both equitable relief and money damages "against any employer (including a public agency) in any Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction," § 2617(a)(2), should that em-

eral, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows:

Bruce M. Botelho of Alaska, M. Jane Brady of Delaware, Earl I. Anzai of Hawaii, Steve Carter of Indiana, Don Stenberg of Nebraska, Betty D. Montgomery of Ohio, W A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Charles M. Condon of South Carolina, Paul G. Summers of Tennessee, John Cornyn of Texas, Mark Shurtleff of Utah, and Jerry W Kilgore of Virginia; for the Coalition for Local Sovereignty by Kenneth B. Clark; and for the Pacific Legal Foundation by Deborah J. La Fetra.

Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the State of New York et al. by Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York, Caitlin J. Halligan, Solicitor General, Michelle Aronowitz, Deputy Solicitor General, Denise A. Hartman, Robert H. Easton, and David Axinn, Assistant Solicitors General, and Hilary Klein, Assistant Attorney General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, James Ryan of Illinois, Michael Hatch of Minnesota, Patricia A. Madrid of New Mexico, and Christine Q Gregoire of Washington; for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations by Jonathan P. Hiatt, James B. Coppess, Laurence Gold, and Michael H. Gottesman; for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law et al. by Sidney S. Rosdeitcher, Barbara R. Arnwine, Thomas J. Henderson, Michael Foreman, Vincent A. Eng, Dennis Courtland Hayes, and Angela Ciccolo; for the National Women's Law Center et al. by Walter Dellinger, Pamela Harris, Marcia D. Greenberger, Judith C. Appelbaum, and Dina R. Lassow; for Senator Christopher Dodd et al. by Mark E. Haddad and C...