Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc. was Lori Hoge's employer. She took a medical leave approved by Honda. During her leave, however, Honda had been undergoing changes in its assembly department where Hoge worked. So when Hoge returned, Honda had no job ready for her. Aproximately one month passed before Honda informed Hoge that a job was available.

When an employee takes leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, the employer must permit the employee to return either to the same position the employee had before taking the leave or an equivalent position with equivalent employment benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment. Although some exceptions and limitations to this general rule exist, none of them were at issue in the dispute between Hoge and Honda. The part of the law that became an issue was that the statute requires that the employer restore the employee to the position "on return from such leave."

The question was whether the statute required Hoge to be returned immediately to her job when she was ready to return from her medical leave; or whether the statute permitted Honda to delay her return for a period Honda claimed was reasonable under the circumstances. Hoge argued that Honda's refusal to permit her to immediately return to work interefered with her right to take medical leave. Honda denied the allegation and argued that the delay in finding an equivalent position was reasonable because the delay was caused by several factors including Hoge’s unexpected return and the time required to locate an equivalent position to accommodate Hoge’s physical restrictions in light of the substantial changes made to its production processes.

The Court agreed with Hoge. In the Court's words: "The plain meaning of 'on return from such leave' is not ambiguous and, contrary to Honda’s argument, will not be construed to mean 'within a reasonable time after the employee is able to return from such leave.' If an employee returning from FMLA leave can perform the essential functions of his previous or an equivalent position, the right to restoration is triggered on the employee’s timely return from leave."

The Court added that under regulations issued by the United States Department of Labor for the purpose of assisting with the interpretation of the statute, employers are entitled to reasonable notice of the date on which an employee anticiaptes returning from work. The Court noted that the regulations specify that two business days is considered reasonable. Thus an employer may take up to two days after being given reasonable notice of a return date to find prepare a return position for the employee.