§ 2617 TITLE 29—LABOR Page 784

title and in accordance with regulations issued

by the Secretary.

(c) Required submissions generally limited to annual basis

The Secretary shall not under the authority of

this section require any employer or any plan,

fund, or program to submit to the Secretary any

books or records more than once during any 12-

month period, unless the Secretary has reasonable cause to believe there may exist a violation

of this subchapter or any regulation or order issued pursuant to this subchapter, or is investigating a charge pursuant to section 2617(b) of

this title.

(d) Subpoena powers

For the purposes of any investigation provided

for in this section, the Secretary shall have the

subpoena authority provided for under section

209 of this title.

(Pub. L. 103–3, title I, §106, Feb. 5, 1993, 107 Stat.

15.)

§ 2617. Enforcement

(a) Civil action by employees

(1) Liability

Any employer who violates section 2615 of

this title shall be liable to any eligible employee affected—

(A) for damages equal to—

(i) the amount of—

(I) any wages, salary, employment benefits, or other compensation denied or

lost to such employee by reason of the

violation; or

(II) in a case in which wages, salary,

employment benefits, or other compensation have not been denied or lost to

the employee, any actual monetary

losses sustained by the employee as a direct result of the violation, such as the

cost of providing care, up to a sum equal

to 12 weeks of wages or salary for the

employee;

(ii) the interest on the amount described

in clause (i) calculated at the prevailing

rate; and

(iii) an additional amount as liquidated

damages equal to the sum of the amount

described in clause (i) and the interest described in clause (ii), except that if an employer who has violated section 2615 of this

title proves to the satisfaction of the court

that the act or omission which violated

section 2615 of this title was in good faith

and that the employer had reasonable

grounds for believing that the act or omission was not a violation of section 2615 of

this title, such court may, in the discretion of the court, reduce the amount of the

liability to the amount and interest determined under clauses (i) and (ii), respectively; and

(B) for such equitable relief as may be appropriate, including employment, reinstatement, and promotion.

(2) Right of action

An action to recover the damages or equitable relief prescribed in paragraph (1) may be

maintained against any employer (including a

public agency) in any Federal or State court

of competent jurisdiction by any one or more

employees for and in behalf of—

(A) the employees; or

(B) the employees and other employees

similarly situated.

(3) Fees and costs

The court in such an action shall, in addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff,

allow a reasonable attorney’s fee, reasonable

expert witness fees, and other costs of the action to be paid by the defendant.

(4) Limitations

The right provided by paragraph (2) to bring

an action by or on behalf of any employee

shall terminate—

(A) on the filing of a complaint by the Secretary in an action under subsection (d) of

this section in which restraint is sought of

any further delay in the payment of the

amount described in paragraph (1)(A) to such

employee by an employer responsible under

paragraph (1) for the payment; or

(B) on the filing of a complaint by the Secretary in an action under subsection (b) of

this section in which a recovery is sought of

the damages described in paragraph (1)(A)

owing to an eligible employee by an employer liable under paragraph (1),

unless the action described in subparagraph

(A) or (B) is dismissed without prejudice on

motion of the Secretary.

(b) Action by Secretary

(1) Administrative action

The Secretary shall receive, investigate, and

attempt to resolve complaints of violations of

section 2615 of this title in the same manner

that the Secretary receives, investigates, and

attempts to resolve complaints of violations of

sections 206 and 207 of this title.

(2) Civil action

The Secretary may bring an action in any

court of competent jurisdiction to recover the

damages described in subsection (a)(1)(A) of

this section.

(3) Sums recovered

Any sums recovered by the Secretary pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be held in a special

deposit account and shall be paid, on order of

the Secretary, directly to each employee affected. Any such sums not paid to an employee

because of inability to do so within a period of

3 years shall be deposited into the Treasury of

the United States as miscellaneous receipts.

(c) Limitation

(1) In general

Except as provided in paragraph (2), an action may be brought under this section not

later than 2 years after the date of the last

event constituting the alleged violation for

which the action is brought.

(2) Willful violation

In the case of such action brought for a willful violation of section 2615 of this title, such
Page 785 TITLE 29—LABOR § 2618

action may be brought within 3 years of the

date of the last event constituting the alleged

violation for which such action is brought.

(3) Commencement

In determining when an action is commenced by the Secretary under this section

for the purposes of this subsection, it shall be

considered to be commenced on the date when

the complaint is filed.

(d) Action for injunction by Secretary

The district courts of the United States shall

have jurisdiction, for cause shown, in an action

brought by the Secretary—

(1) to restrain violations of section 2615 of

this title, including the restraint of any withholding of payment of wages, salary, employment benefits, or other compensation, plus interest, found by the court to be due to eligible

employees; or

(2) to award such other equitable relief as

may be appropriate, including employment,

reinstatement, and promotion.

(e) Solicitor of Labor

The Solicitor of Labor may appear for and represent the Secretary on any litigation brought

under this section.

(f) General Accounting Office and Library of

Congress

In the case of the General Accounting Office

and the Library of Congress, the authority of

the Secretary of Labor under this subchapter

shall be exercised respectively by the Comptroller General of the United States and the Librarian of Congress.

(Pub. L. 103–3, title I, §107, Feb. 5, 1993, 107 Stat.

15; Pub. L. 104–1, title II, §202(c)(1)(B), Jan. 23,

1995, 109 Stat. 9.)

AMENDMENTS

1995—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 104–1 added subsec. (f).

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1995 AMENDMENT

Amendment by Pub. L. 104–1 effective one year after

transmission to Congress of the study under section

1371 of Title 2, The Congress, see section 1312(e)(2) of

Title 2. The study required under section 1371 of Title

2, dated Dec. 31, 1996, was transmitted to Congress by

the Board of Directors of the Office of Compliance on

Dec. 30, 1996.

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in sections 2616, 2618 of this

title; title 2 section 1312; title 3 section 412.

§ 2618. Special rules concerning employees of

local educational agencies

(a) Application

(1) In general

Except as otherwise provided in this section,

the rights (including the rights under section

2614 of this title, which shall extend throughout the period of leave of any employee under

this section), remedies, and procedures under

this subchapter shall apply to—

(A) any ‘‘local educational agency’’ (as defined in section 8801 of title 20) and an eligible employee of the agency; and

(B) any private elementary or secondary

school and an eligible employee of the

school.

(2) Definitions

For purposes of the application described in

paragraph (1):

(A) Eligible employee

The term ‘‘eligible employee’’ means an eligible employee of an agency or school described in paragraph (1).

(B) Employer

The term ‘‘employer’’ means an agency or

school described in paragraph (1).

(b) Leave does not violate certain other Federal

laws

A local educational agency and a private elementary or secondary school shall not be in violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), section 794 of

this title), or title VI of the Civil Rights Act of

1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), solely as a result of

an eligible employee of such agency or school

exercising the rights of such employee under

this subchapter.

(c) Intermittent leave or leave on reduced schedule for instructional employees

(1) In general

Subject to paragraph (2), in any case in

which an eligible employee employed principally in an instructional capacity by any

such educational agency or school requests

leave under subparagraph (C) or (D) of section

2612(a)(1) of this title that is foreseeable based

on planned medical treatment and the employee would be on leave for greater than 20

percent of the total number of working days in

the period during which the leave would extend, the agency or school may require that

such employee elect either—

(A) to take leave for periods of a particular

duration, not to exceed the duration of the

planned medical treatment; or

(B) to transfer temporarily to an available

alternative position offered by the employer

for which the employee is qualified, and

that—

(i) has equivalent pay and benefits; and

(ii) better accommodates recurring periods of leave than the regular employment

position of the employee.

(2) Application

The elections described in subparagraphs (A)

and (B) of paragraph (1) shall apply only with

respect to an eligible employee who complies

with section 2612(e)(2) of this title.

(d) Rules applicable to periods near conclusion

of academic term

The following rules shall apply with respect to

periods of leave near the conclusion of an academic term in the case of any eligible employee

employed principally in an instructional capacity by any such educational agency or school:

(1) Leave more than 5 weeks prior to end of

term

If the eligible employee begins leave under

section 2612 of this title more than 5 weeks

prior to the end of the academic term, the

agency or school may require the employee to

continue taking leave until the end of such

term, if—