Sharp v. CGG Land (U.S.) Inc., 15-5113
| Citation | 840 F.3d 1211 |
| Decision Date | 04 November 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 15-5113,15-5113 |
| Parties | R. Dane Sharp, individually and on behalf of all similarly situated employees; Alejandro Espinoza ; Mariano Espinoza, Jr.; Cordius Hickmon; Gabriel J. Galvan; Seydina Sylla; Jordan Photbaupha; Juan R. Romero; Todd M. Delancey; William Simon Sewando; Diane K. Sterk; Corey D. Sanders; Eulogio Solano Martinez; Barry Collins, Jr.; Elias Davila ; Edgar Trebotich; John Washam; Alejandro Moncada ; Rodolfo Ramirez; Gary Wyatt ; Deron Scott; Emilio Rubio; Ralph Wilson; Johnathon Nunnery; Dexter Thompson; William Wilson; Jerry Anderson; Dietrich Jackson; Germaine Wilson; Landrix Jackson; Gilberto Bonilla; Santiago Bonilla; Richard Farr ; Timothy Garcia; Jesus Rodriquez ; Juan Estrada ; Ambrocio Rosales; Seferino Saldana; Ramon Moreno ; Antonio Mora–Armaga; Jeremiah Hart; Donnell Harris; Jorge Campos ; Taylor Ellis; Alfonso Cardoza, Jr.; Joe L. Ruffin; Ratheal Bateaste; Jose A. Martinez; Donald Guidry; Oljuwan Tobias; Koua Xiong; Helio S. Rodriquez; Carlos Torres; Joseph Tilden; Juan M. Urbinaf; Ismael Mendoza, Jr.; Octavio Mendoza; Jeffrey Douglas; Leonard Johnson; Alejandro Moncada ; Todd Touchet; Daniel Wetherby; Santiago Canales; Larry Wilson; Robert L. Jefferson, Jr.; Oscar Williams ; Terry White; Jireh L. Monroe, Sr.; Juan Carrillo ; Donntel Dion Bailey; Juan Hernandez; Wayne Burns ; Jeremy Frazier; Kevin Resendez; Gregory Penatzer; Norberto Hernandez ; Daryl Smith; James Walker; Mateos Garcia; Darrick Weathersby; Jared Leggett; Caleb Weatherspoon; Charlie Lee, Jr.; Marcus Price ; Damion Walker; Lebroderick Jones, Sr.; Rolando Bates; Shon M. Phillips; Shawn Brown ; Eric L. Burroughs; Jose Cardenas; Pablo Cavallero; Tramaine Chapman; Francisco Diaz ; Paul Dutchover; Martin Garza; Jose G. Gomez ; John L. Granger; Lekeith Handy, Sr.; Robert Hoaglin; Michael Holmes; Kaluna Kovin; Darius LeBlanc; Daryl Mccray; Dennis R. Mills ; J. Mark Morgan ; Jose Alberto Navaez; David Perez; Arturo Ramirez; Ardell Robinson, Jr.; Arturo Saenz, Jr.; Khammala Sy; Raymond A. Thiele; Robert Van Den Brink; Southep Vongkhamchan; Daokham Xaysy; Bassirou M. Baye; Jalante M. Brown; Noble Campbell; Pao X Chang; Andres B. Cortez; Christopher Demartin; Shawn Dickerson; Eddie Gonzalez ; Luis R. Garcia ; Eric Hand ; Kunta Hickmon; George Hunt; Roderick Jefferson; Tony Jenkins ; Charles Johnson; Soukhy Keomanivong; Phra Manidone; Nikita Minor; Jorge L. Narvaez; Phetsomone Navongsa; Pho Ngeune; Ricky V. Norris, Jr.; Arthur L. Nunnery; Derrick Pope; Jesus S. Rodriguez ; John Rodriguez; Robert A. Smith; George Stinson; Nick Stinson; Soulivanh Sylaphet; Marqus Turner; Bruce Williams; Edward D. Baity; Edgar Cerda; Montreal Chapman; Russell Chapman ; Josef Deblanc; Desmond Dennis; Jorge Franco; Bryan Godinez; Edson Gonzalez; Victor Gutierrez ; Travis Gregory Hammonds; Rogelio Hernandez; Shawn L. Jackson; Tyrone D. Jackson; Alan Roy Johnson, Sr.; Sergio Juarez; Kongvieng Khammala; Leslie R. Lippert; Christopher A Martin; Cergio Martinez; Jaime Martinez; Arthur Mendoza; Justin Merillat; John Nickerson, Jr.; Manuel Ortiz; Brandon S. Parrish; Damian Smith; Boubacar Mberry Sylla; Carl Toti; Julio Velasquez ; Eddie Lee White, Jr.; Joseh Deblanc; Bryan Godinez; Cesar O. Canizales; Emilio Delacruz; David Dellar; Eleazor Gutierrez; Diondrick Hurst; Barthelemy Kassi; Jim Keomorakoth; Armando Loya ; Mary Olzweski; Tevin L. Pittinger; Mara Priestely; Bounleuth Rasavongsy; Francisco Javier Rios–Favela; Papa Robinson; Joseph Ryals; Christopher Smith; Anthony Weeks ; Robert Byers; Sean Allison ; Jose Lazaro Yanes; Alan Roy Johnson, Sr.; Octavio Esparza Alvarez; Roderrick Brown; Ronald O. Bates; Jason T. Engle; Harry L. McGhee, Jr.; Freddie L. Ruffin; Jesus E. Ojeda, Jr.; Fred E. Trueblood; Jose F. Scott; Ursula Spring Weekly, as executor for son Jordan Kyle Gatte; Francisco Contreras Hernandez; Bermardo Zacarias; Juan M. Esparaza; Julio C. Ferrufino; Frederick M. Felton; Eduardo A. Perez, Jr.; James Lorell Downs; Joe Lewis Mars; Luis Benetiz, Sr.; Chad A. Knieper; Dereck J. Smith; Jose Angel Guevera–Gomez; Sengkham Manivong; Jaime Medina; Omero Garcia, Jr.; Omar Aguirre; Sitthisak Meuangkhot, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. CGG Land (U.S.) Inc., Defendant–Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
J. Vince Hightower, Law Offices of J. Vince Hightower, Tusla, Oklahoma, for Plaintiffs–Appellants.
Laurence E. Stuart, Stuart PC, Houston, Texas (Hollie Leanne Reiminger, Stuart PC, Houston, Texas, with him on the brief), for Defendant–Appellee.
Before KELLY, PHILLIPS, and MORITZ, Circuit Judges.
PHILLIPS
, Circuit Judge.
CGG Land (U.S.) Inc.'s employees (Employees) brought this collective action alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA generally requires employers to compensate overtime hours at one and one-half times the employee's “regular rate” of pay. See 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1) (2012)
. Employees claim that CGG violated the FLSA by not including in their regular rates reimbursement payments for $35 of daily meal expenses while working away from home. Thus, Employees claim that CGG undervalued their pay in calculating their overtime compensation. We hold that 29 U.S.C. § 207(e)(2) exempts such payments from the regular rate as travel expenses incurred in furtherance of the employer's interest. We affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of CGG.
The Parties stipulated to the following undisputed facts. Employees are former hourly employees of CGG. CGG provides seismic-mapping services at remote locations throughout the United States. To reach the remote locations, CGG required its employees to travel away from home and stay in hotels near remote job sites for four-to-eight-week intervals. Employees then returned home for about two-to-four-week intervals before again traveling to remote locations.
Employees often worked more than forty hours per week while at the remote locations, and CGG paid them overtime based on Employees' regular rates of pay. When CGG's employees worked away from home, CGG also provided them a $35 per diem for meals, including on days spent traveling to and from the remote job locations. In the district court, the Parties stipulated that $35 “was a reasonable amount for meal expenses incurred by the Plaintiffs while living and working on CGG Land business at work locations away from their home locations.” Appellant's App. vol. I at 64. CGG didn't pay the $35 when employees worked from their home locations or when food was provided at the remote locations.
In determining Employees' regular rates of pay, CGG didn't include the daily $35 payments. Contesting this calculation method, Employees filed a collective action against CGG asserting that CGG violated the FLSA by calculating their overtime pay on undervalued regular rates of pay. After stipulating to material facts in the district court, the Parties each sought summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment for CGG, agreeing with CGG that the $35 payments were exempt from the regular rates of pay under 29 U.S.C. § 207(e)(2)
.
On appeal, Employees argue that the district court erred in treating the $35 payments as exempt travel expenses under § 207(e)(2)
. First, Employees claim that travel expenses are not exempt for days when they traveled to or from remote job sites because they didn't do any work for CGG on those days. And second, Employees claim that the $35 payments remained not exempt for all days they worked at the remote job site because for those days they were no longer traveling over the road. In addition, Employees claim that CGG has waived all defenses except its claim that the $35 payments are exempt under § 207(e)(2).1
“We review the district court's summary judgment decision de novo, applying the same standard as the district court.” McBride v. Peak Wellness Ctr., Inc. , 688 F.3d 698, 703 (10th Cir. 2012)
(internal quotation marks omitted). Under this standard, summary judgment is appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Here, the Parties stipulated to the material facts in the district court, so the sole issue is whether those facts justify granting CGG summary judgment.
“The purpose of FLSA overtime is ‘to compensate those who labored in excess of the statutory maximum number of hours for the wear and tear of extra work and to spread employment through inducing employers to shorten hours because of the pressure of extra cost.’ ” Chavez v. City of Albuquerque , 630 F.3d 1300, 1304 (10th Cir. 2011)
(quoting Bay Ridge Operating Co. v. Aaron, 334 U.S. 446, 460, 68 S.Ct. 1186, 92 L.Ed. 1502 (1948) ). An employer must compensate overtime hours “at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which [the employee] is employed.” 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1). “ ‘The proper determination of that [regular] rate is therefore of prime importance’ in calculating the amount of overtime wages due.” Albers v. Bd. of Cty. Comm'rs of Jefferson Cty., Colo. , 771 F.3d 697, 704–05 (10th Cir. 2014) (quoting Walling v. Youngerman–Reynolds Hardwood Co. , 325 U.S. 419, 424, 65 S.Ct. 1242, 89 L.Ed. 1705 (1945) ).
The first step in resolving this FLSA dispute is to determine Employees' regular rates. Chavez , 630 F.3d at 1304
. The regular rate “shall be deemed to include all remuneration for employment paid to, or on behalf of, the employee,” subject to eight exceptions. 29 U.S.C. § 207(e). One exception exempts “reasonable payments for traveling expenses, or other expenses, incurred by an employee in the furtherance of his employer's interests and properly reimbursable by the employer; and other similar payments to an employee which are not made as compensation for his hours of employment.” Id. § 207(e)(2)
. This exception applies “[w]here an employee incurs expenses on his employer's behalf or where he is required to...
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