Layton v. DHL Express (USA), Inc.

• Decision Date: 09 July 2012
• Docket Number: No. 11–12532.,11–12532.
• Citation: 19 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 513,686 F.3d 1172,23 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 1277
• Parties: Leandre LAYTON, on behalf of himself and all those similarly situated, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. DHL EXPRESS (USA), INC., Defendant–Appellee, Sky Land Express, Inc., et al. Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

686 F.3d 1172

19 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 513

23 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 1277

Leandre LAYTON, on behalf of himself and all those similarly situated, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v. DHL EXPRESS (USA), INC., Defendant–Appellee,Sky Land Express, Inc., et al. Defendants.

No. 11–12532.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

July 9, 2012.

Marc N. Garber, Alan Howard Garber, The Garber Law Firm, PC, Marietta, GA, Roderick T. Cooks, Lee David Winston, Winston Cooks, LLC, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff–Appellant.

Devand Anthony Sukhdeo, TerRance Q. Woodard, Jackson Lewis, LLP, Miami, FL, Beverly P. Baker, Christopher W. Deering, James A. Patton, Jr., Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, PC, Veronica L. Merritt, Law Office of Veronica L. Merritt, Steven Michael Stastny, Jackson Lewis, LLP, Jonice M. Vanterpool, Hand Arendall, LLC, Birmingham, AL, for Defendant–Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Before EDMONDSON, WILSON and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges.

WILSON, Circuit Judge:

Leandre Layton, on behalf of himself and the similarly-situated members of his conditionally-certified class (collectively, “Drivers”), appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of DHL Express, Inc. (“DHL”) on his claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. After a thorough examination of the realities of the economic relationship between Drivers and DHL, we affirm on the grounds that DHL is not a joint employer of Drivers.

I.

DHL is a provider of shipping and logistic services. In some parts of the country, DHL hires third-party contractors who employ couriers to deliver DHL's packages. Between 2005 and 2009, DHL utilized Sky Land Express, Inc. (“Sky Land”) as such a contractor in Alabama. Sky Land worked out of three warehouse locations in the state: Birmingham, Jasper, and Tuscaloosa. The relationship between DHL and Sky Land was governed by a Cartage Agreement that stated that Sky Land was an independent contractor of DHL and specified Sky Land's contractual duties. Drivers were employed by Sky Land and served mainly as delivery couriers, although some also acted as supervisors, dispatchers, and shuttle drivers. Sky Land owned the vehicles that Drivers used to deliver packages; DHL owned the warehouse facilities and all other equipment.

Every morning, DHL had packages delivered to the Birmingham warehouse. Drivers could not begin work until a DHL employee informed them that those packages had been received and coded and were ready for pick-up. After receiving the go-ahead, Drivers sorted, scanned, and loaded the packages. Sky Land leased the necessary scanners from DHL. As Driversloaded their vehicles at the warehouse, a DHL employee would often inspect Drivers' vehicles and uniforms to ensure that they conformed to the standards specified in the Cartage Agreement. The uniforms and the vehicles bore the names of both DHL and Sky Land.

Drivers delivered some packages straight from the Birmingham warehouse to customers; the rest of the packages were shuttled to the Tuscaloosa and Jasper warehouses, retrieved by Drivers, and then delivered. Drivers spent the majority of their days making pick-ups and deliveries in their vehicles. Throughout the day, DHL sent information regarding customer complaints, requests for re-deliveries, and other non-routine matters to Drivers. As Drivers worked, they used the scanners to log the time at which each package was picked up or delivered. When Drivers had completed their delivery routes for the day, they unloaded any remaining packages at one of the warehouses and returned their scanners to be charged overnight. At that time, the information that the scanner had collected during the day about package locations was transmitted to a DHL data server.

On August 27, 2008, Layton filed a collective action under the FLSA for unpaid overtime compensation, naming DHL, Sky Land, and Gary Littlefield, the owner and president of Sky Land, as his joint employers and defendants to the suit. On June 22, 2009, the district court granted Layton conditional collective-action certification pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). The conditionally-certified class included forty-nine delivery drivers who had worked for Sky Land in Alabama; the class period was June 22, 2006 through June 22, 2009. ¹

On October 22, 2010, DHL moved for summary judgment on the ground that it was not an employer of Drivers. On November 5, 2010, Sky Land and Littlefield moved for summary judgment, claiming that (1) the FLSA's Motor Carrier Act Exemption (“MCE”) made Drivers ineligible for overtime compensation and (2) one member of the conditionally-certified class fell within the executive exemption to the FLSA. On November 16, 2010, DHL filed an untimely motion to join and adopt Sky Land and Littlefield's motion. On December 3, 2010, Layton, Sky Land, and Littlefield jointly moved to dismiss Sky Land and Littlefield as defendants. Three days later, the district court granted the motion, dismissed Sky Land and Littlefield and ordered their motion withdrawn, and denied DHL's motion to adopt. On January 12, 2011, the district court denied DHL's motion for summary judgment. Then, on February 15, 2011, the district court sua sponte vacated its order denying DHL's request to join Sky Land and Littlefield's motion to dismiss. Subsequently, on May 3, 2011, the district court granted summary judgment for DHL, finding that (1) the “dismissal of Sky Land effectively eliminated [Plaintiff class members'] claim against DHL” and (2) Plaintiff class members fell within the MCE and were thus not able to assert overtime pay claims. The district court later amended the order to add an additional reason for granting the motion:

DHL did everything it could possibly do to relate to Sky Land only as an “independent contractor[.”] The contract with Sky Land allowed DHL to exercise only the minimal supervision necessary to monitor compliance with the contract. The undisputed facts lead to the conclusion that if plaintiffs were employed by anybody, they were employed by Sky Land, the entity that they ostentatiously dismissed as a defendant, for reasons this court can only guess at. DHL was not an employer, much less a joint employer.

Layton now appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment.

II.

We review de novo a district court's grant of summary judgment. Vector Prods., Inc. v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 397 F.3d 1316, 1318 (11th Cir.2005) (per curiam). We can affirm a grant of summary judgment on grounds other than those relied upon by the district court. Edwards v. Niagara Credit Solutions, Inc., 584 F.3d 1350, 1354 (11th Cir.2009). In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we resolve all ambiguities and draw reasonable factual inferences from the evidence in the non-movant's favor. Rice–Lamar v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 232 F.3d 836, 840 (11th Cir.2000). Therefore, throughout this opinion we have presented all evidence in the light most favorable to Layton.

III.

The FLSA defines an employer as “any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee.” 29 U.S.C. § 203(d). An entity “employs” a person under the FLSA if it “suffer[s] or permit[s]” the individual to work. Id. § 203(g). In order to determine whether an alleged employer “suffer[s] or permit[s]” an individual to work, we ask “if, as a matter of economic reality, the individual is dependent on the entity.” Antenor v. D & S Farms, 88 F.3d 925, 929 (11th Cir.1996) (quoting Goldberg v. Whitaker House Coop., Inc., 366 U.S. 28, 33, 81 S.Ct. 933, 936–37, 6 L.Ed.2d 100 (1961)). An employee may have more than one employer, and “whether the employment by the employers is to be considered joint employment or separate and distinct employment for purposes of the act depends upon all the facts in the particular case.” 29 C.F.R. § 791.2(a). A joint-employment relationship will generally be found to exist in situations such as:

(1) Where there is an arrangement between the employers to share the employee's services, as, for example, to interchange employees; or

(2) Where one employer is acting directly or indirectly in the interest of the other employer (or employers) in relation to the employee; or

(3) Where the employers are not completely disassociated with respect to the employment of a particular employee and may be deemed to share control of the employee, directly or indirectly, by reason of the fact that one employer controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the other employer.

Id. § 791.2(b) (footnotes omitted).

In this circuit, many joint-employment FLSA claims have arisen in cases also asserting a joint-employment relationship under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (“AWPA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq. Because the AWPA defines the term “employ” by reference to the FLSA and because the AWPA regulations provide more detailed guidance regarding the definition of joint employer, much of our caselaw expanding upon the definition of joint employment has relied upon the AWPA regulations.

For example, in Aimable v. Long & Scott Farms, a farm labor contractor recruited migrant farm workers to harvest crops for a property owner. 20 F.3d 434, 437 (11th Cir.1994). The farm workers then brought FLSA and AWPA claims against both the contractor and the property owner as joint employers. Id. at 437. The district court determined that the contractor was, in fact, an employer, and the only question on appeal was whether the property owner was also an employer. Id. In evaluating the existence of an employment relationship, we looked at eight factors. We drew the first five factors from regulations relating to the AWPA:

[1] The nature and degree of control of the workers;

[2] The degree of supervision, direct or indirect, of the work;

[3] The power to determine the pay rates or the methods of payment of the workers;

[4] The right,...