Atlanta Professional Firefighters Union, Local 134 v. City of Atlanta
| Decision Date | 07 January 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-8671,89-8671 |
| Citation | 920 F.2d 800 |
| Parties | 30 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 169, 59 USLW 2479, 117 Lab.Cas. P 35,441 ATLANTA PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS UNION, LOCAL 134; Larry R. Atchley; Curley D. Davis; David A. McLane; Thomas C. Doyle; David W. Taylor; Dennis L. Gray and Carlton S. Hardin, Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF ATLANTA; George Napper, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety; and William H. Hamer, in his official capacity as Fire Chief, Bureau of Fire Services, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
A. Lee Parks, Meals Kirwan Goger Winter & Parks, Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiffs-appellants.
David R. Blum, Marva Jones Brooks, Office of Attorney for City of Atlanta, Atlanta, Ga., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court For the Northern District of Georgia.
Before HATCHETT and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges, and GODBOLD, Senior Circuit Judge.
In this Fair Labor Standards Act case, we affirm the district court's ruling that the city of Atlanta properly applied the Act to captains, lieutenants, and firefighters, in its Bureau of Fire Services.
On February 19, 1986, the Supreme Court announced in Garcia v. San Antonio Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528, 105 S.Ct. 1005, 83 L.Ed.2d 1016 (1985), that the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") were applicable to municipalities. Prior to that time, the city of Atlanta (the "City") treated firefighters employed in its Bureau of Fire Services ("BFS") as quasi-salaried employees in that it paid them a fixed sum bi-weekly, which was subject to adjustment for unexcused absences or for any extra work during the period. 1 The City reduced the fixed bi-weekly amount if a firefighter had unexcused absences and increased the amount if a firefighter performed extra work. The City paid the firefighters compensation for extra work on a "straight time" rather than a "time and a half" basis.
The firefighters are divided into three rotation groups--groups "A," "B," and "C." The BFS employed a three-day rotation cycle whereby a firefighter from each group worked one "twenty-four hour day" followed by two days off. Because it is mathematically impossible to schedule the three groups to an equal number of shifts during the twenty-eight work days in a bi-weekly pay period, one group of firefighters worked ten days during a pay period while the other two groups worked nine days. 2
Following the Supreme Court's announcement in Garcia that the statutory provisions of the FLSA applied to municipalities, the City realized that it would have to change its quasi-salaried system. The FLSA required that, except as otherwise provided, employees who worked in excess of a certain number of hours be compensated for the extra hours ("overtime") at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate. See generally 29 U.S.C.A. Sec. 207. The specific provision governing the firefighters requires that the City pay overtime to the firefighters where, in a work period of 28 consecutive days, the time worked exceeds the lesser of 216 hours or a number of hours established by the Secretary of Labor as being the average number of hours similar employees work in 28 day tours of duty. See 29 U.S.C. Sec. 207(k). On November 14, 1985, Congress enacted a "grace period" whereby municipalities were permitted to delay implementation of the FLSA until April 15, 1986. See 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216 note.
In attempting to comply with the FLSA provisions, the City formulated a plan which allowed firefighters to receive one "relief-day" per pay cycle. Under this plan, firefighters who were scheduled to work 240 hours (10 days) in a 28-day cycle were scheduled to work 216 hours. Firefighters who were scheduled to work 216 hours (9 days) were scheduled to work 192 hours. Despite the reduction in their work hours, the firefighters continued to receive the same bi-weekly pay. Between November 25, 1985, when the City implemented the new plan, and April 15, 1986, the City continued its custom of paying "straight time" when a firefighter worked extra hours beyond the regularly scheduled hours.
According to the City, on April 15, 1986, it was unable to comply with the overtime provisions of the FLSA due to problems with their computerized pay system. On that date, Chief William Haymer of BFS sent out a memorandum informing firefighters that instead of receiving the 24-hour relief day as had been customary for the preceding 5 months, they would receive a 12-hour relief day. This meant that firefighters scheduled to work 240 hours (10 days) during a 28-day cycle were scheduled to work 228 hours instead of 216 hours; firefighters who were scheduled for 216 hours (9 days) during the 28-day cycle were scheduled to work 204 hours. This system continued in effect until September 3, 1986.
On September 3, 1986, the City converted to an hourly system of pay for firefighters, with time and a half being paid once a 212 hour threshold was reached in each 28-day pay cycle. The City determined that, in order to ascertain each firefighter's hourly rate of pay, it would divide the firefighter's annual salary by 2,756 hours. 3 In September, 1986, the City notified the firefighters that it would pay, on a retroactive basis, any overtime pay earned during the period April 15 to September 3, 1986. The City announced that in making computations for this period, it would determine an hourly rate for each firefighter, and this rate would be applied to compensable time. 4 Under this scheme, holidays not actually worked and "relief" days would be excluded from "compensable time" and would not be counted in determining whether the 212 hour overtime threshold had been met. The City also decided that those firefighters who had worked less than 212 hours in a given 28-day period between April 15, 1986, and September 3, 1986, would suffer a retroactive decrease in pay because they had not worked the number of hours for which they had been paid.
The City recalculated both base pay and overtime pay for each 28 day cycle during the period April 15 to September 3, 1986. Thereafter, the City mailed checks to those employees who received less pay than they were entitled to under the new method of calculating overtime. Conversely, those employees who had been paid more than they were entitled to under the new method of calculation had to repay the excess to the City. 5
The Atlanta Professional Firefighters Union, Local 134, (the "Union") instituted this class action lawsuit on behalf of the firefighters, lieutenants and captains in federal district court, pursuant to 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216(b). The Union alleged that (1) the City had violated the FLSA by failing to pay overtime to firefighters during the period April 15, 1986, to September 3, 1986; (2) the lieutenants and captains were entitled to overtime under the provisions of the Act; and (3) the City had intentionally sought to circumvent the provisions of the Act. The Union sought liquidated damages, attorneys fees, and other equitable relief.
After the Union and the City submitted motions for summary judgment, the district court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the Union, concluding that lieutenants were not exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA. The district court also awarded attorneys fees to the Union, but only to the extent that fees were earned on the lieutenant exemption issue.
The district court also granted partial summary judgment in favor of the City. The district court concluded that (1) captains were exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA, (2) the City did not err in computing the firefighters' retroactive award of overtime, (3) liquidated damages were not appropriate because the City had established a good faith reason for deciding not to pay overtime to lieutenants, and (4) the claims of office workers in the BFS were not properly before the court.
The Union contends that the district court erred when it concluded that captains are exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA. Additionally, the Union contends that the City violated the FLSA by (1) incorrectly computing the amount of overtime payable to the firefighters, and (2) failing to pay firefighters overtime on a timely basis. Finally, the Union contends that the district court erred by concluding that the employees who worked forty-hour weeks could not obtain relief in this class action suit.
The City contends that the district court did not err in its rulings.
Under the FLSA, an employer is exempt from paying overtime in connection with the work of certain employees. See 29 U.S.C. Sec. 213. The exemption at issue in this case is one which exempts from the overtime requirements of the FLSA "any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity." 29 U.S.C. Sec. 213(a)(1). The district court concluded that the City had satisfactorily established the applicability of this exemption for the BFS captains, but not for the lieutenants. Only the Union has appealed.
A captain reports to a battalion chief, who is one rank higher and whose duties involve coordinating the efforts of three different fire stations. A captain is an employee who has achieved a higher rank than lieutenant; and a firefighter is lower in rank than either a captain or a lieutenant. Each of the City's thirty-four fire stations has a captain, whether it is a single or double company station. 6 Only double company stations have lieutenants.
In this case, the City had the burden of proving the administrative exemption. Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 U.S. 188, 196-97, 94 S.Ct. 2223, 2229, 41 L.Ed.2d 1 (1974). Additionally, in determining whether an administrative exemption exists, we must...
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