Bayles v. American Medical Response of Colorado

• Decision Date: 31 December 1996
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 94-B-2300.
• Citation: 950 F.Supp. 1053
• Parties: Brett L. BAYLES, Michael P. Frey, Jeralyn Johansen, Steven J. Nelson, Jeffrey S. Turner, James Reynolds, Steve Dunn, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. AMERICAN MEDICAL RESPONSE OF COLORADO, INC., a Delaware corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Colorado

Page 1053

950 F.Supp. 1053

Brett L. BAYLES, Michael P. Frey, Jeralyn Johansen, Steven J. Nelson, Jeffrey S. Turner, James Reynolds, Steve Dunn, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. AMERICAN MEDICAL RESPONSE OF COLORADO, INC., a Delaware corporation, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 94-B-2300.

United States District Court, D. Colorado.

December 31, 1996.

Donna Dell'Olio, Cornish and Dell'Olio, Colorado Springs, CO, for Plaintiffs.

John R. Webb, Holme Roberts & Owen L.L.P., Denver, CO, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER

BABCOCK, District Judge.

Plaintiffs move for reconsideration of my September 4, 1996, summary judgment order, Bayles v. American Medical Response, 937 F.Supp. 1477 (D.Colo.1996). Defendant renews its motion to decertify plaintiffs' class under 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) or, in the alternative, for subclasses and separate liability verdicts. For the following reasons I will grant in part and deny in part each motion.

I.

Reed Ambulance, Inc., predecessor of defendant, American Medical Response of Colorado, Inc. (AMR), operated an ambulance service until it merged with Ambulance Service Company in September of 1993. In October 1993, Ambulance Service Company changed its name to American Medical Response of Colorado, Inc. Reed and AMR will be referred to collectively as AMR. Before August 1, 1993, AMR scheduled its ambulance crews to work approximately ten, twenty-four hour shifts per month. Before August 1, 1992, AMR deducted three hours per shift for meals. After August 1, 1992, it deducted two hours per shift. If an employee was unable to enjoy a meal break during the designated meal period, the employee could submit an extra time slip requesting compensation. Management would then review the call out records to determine whether the employee had sufficient time between calls to enjoy a meal.

AMR also deducted eight hours from each twenty-four hour shift for sleeptime. If ambulance crews were called to duty during this time, they were paid for time worked rounded to the nearest half-hour as long as time worked exceeded fifteen minutes. When calls to duty amounted to more than 3 ½ hours, employees were paid for all eight hours. Thus, on average plaintiffs were paid for either thirteen or fourteen hours of work per twenty-four hour shift.

Each plaintiff was employed by AMR in at least one of five positions: ambulance driver, ambulance attendant, cabulance driver, cabulance attendant, or dispatcher. Plaintiffs contend that AMR's failure to pay overtime compensation and its deduction of mealtime and sleeptime from hours worked violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-19.

II. PLAINTIFFS' REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION

Plaintiffs request reconsideration of my memorandum opinion and order of September 4, 1996. Bayles v. American Medical Response, 937 F.Supp. 1477 (D.Colo.1996). In particular, plaintiffs contend that I erred in granting summary judgment on (1) plaintiffs' claim for mealtime compensation and (2) the statute of limitations for overtime claims because genuine issues of material fact allegedly remain to be decided. Because I find that genuine issues of fact exist with regard to plaintiffs' mealtime claims, I will vacate my order of summary judgment on those claims. I will deny plaintiffs' motion to reconsider in all other respects.

Reconsideration may be granted upon "an intervening change in the controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice." Brumark Corp. v. Samson Resources Corp., 57 F.3d 941, 948 (10th Cir.1995). Plaintiffs do not contend there has been a change in the controlling law or that new evidence has been uncovered. Accordingly, I will only reconsider my September 4, 1996, order for clear error.

A. Mealtime Compensation

Plaintiffs argue that I clearly erred in granting summary judgment on their claims for mealtime compensation because genuine issues of material fact remain to be decided regarding whether (1) plaintiffs received less than forty-five minutes of uninterrupted mealtime, and (2) plaintiffs' mealtime was spent predominantly for the benefit of the employer. I agree that there remain genuine issues of material fact regarding the plaintiffs' first contention, but not the second, and I will, therefore, vacate my earlier grant of summary judgment on plaintiffs' mealtime compensation claims.

1. The Forty-Five-Minute Meal Break

In my September 4, 1996, order, I found that it was undisputed that plaintiffs were permitted to submit additional pay slips to AMR for mealtimes if the plaintiffs did not have at least a forty-five-minute, uninterrupted period in which they could have eaten. AMR considered forty-five minutes to equal one hour for rounding off purposes. AMR's stated policy was to deduct for mealtimes only if the employee had an uninterrupted forty-five minutes during a particular meal period in which to eat. Reed Policy Manual, p. 19. Plaintiffs request that I reconsider and reverse my grant of summary judgment to AMR because there is a genuine question of fact regarding whether AMR followed its stated policy of allowing forty-five minutes for meals. I agree.

The deposition testimony of Sharon Dole is exemplary. Dole testified in a deposition taken in an earlier action against AMR that employees were not paid for mealtimes if they had even a thirty minute uninterrupted period in which they could have eaten. Dole Dep. pp. 26-27, filed Oct. 2, 1995. This contradicts both AMR's stated policy and Dole's later deposition testimony in which she stated that the minimum mealtime was forty-five minutes. Dole Dep. pp. 20-25, filed Aug. 24, 1995. In addition, several affidavits state that at least for some supervisors, the operative inquiry was whether the employee actually managed to eat, regardless of the time to do so. Baalman Aff. ¶ 7(c); Reynolds Aff. ¶ 8(c), both filed June 7, 1995 ("If we turned in an overtime slip for a missed meal, some supervisors would ask, `Did you eat?' If you ate, your request was denied.").

Looking at this evidence in a light most favorable to the plaintiffs, I cannot conclude as a matter of law that AMR complied with the FLSA regarding mealtime compensation. AMR deducted up to three hours of mealtime per shift from the plaintiffs' pay. If plaintiffs only received thirty minutes or "enough time to eat" for each meal period, AMR's deductions were excessive and plaintiffs are entitled to compensation. If, however, plaintiffs cannot show that AMR departed from its stated policy of allowing at least forty-five minutes for a meal, I adhere to my earlier order and hold as a matter of law that plaintiffs' claim for mealtime compensation must fail.

2. Predominant Benefit Test

The plaintiffs also challenge my finding that "no reasonable juror could find that plaintiffs' mealtime was spent predominantly for the benefit of AMR." Plaintiffs allege that my finding was unsupported by sworn testimony and that I disregarded Brett Bayles' second affidavit. I disagree.

AMR submitted an affidavit by Pat Conroy stating that for each of the three five-hour "time zones" during which an employee could take a meal break, the employees had approximately four hours during which they could take a meal break. Conroy Aff., submitted with AMR's opposition brief, at ¶ 5. Conroy did not consider "coverage calls" and, thus, AMR submitted another affidavit by Stephen Duree demonstrating that Conroy's calculations underestimated plaintiffs calls by 25%. Duree Aff., submitted with AMR's reply on October 31, 1995, at ¶ 5. Even with twenty-five percent more calls, however, plaintiffs would have had more than three and one-half hours during each meal time zone during which to enjoy a meal.

Because plaintiffs had ample time to take a meal break between calls the majority of days, the pertinent issue is how they spent their time during their meal breaks. Plaintiffs never identified evidence showing that they had any duties during mealtime beyond being on call and staying close to their ambulances. As my September 4 order explains, such evidence is simply insufficient as a matter of law to prove that plaintiffs' mealtime was spent primarily for the benefit of AMR.

Bayles' second affidavit, which plaintiffs state I "disregarded," is inapposite. In that affidavit, Bayles lists numerous duties that he was required to fulfill between calls. He does not, however, state that he was unable to take a break from such duties to enjoy a meal. The pertinent inquiry is whether plaintiffs' time during meals was spent predominantly for the benefit of AMR. Bayles' affidavit indicates only that his time when not responding to calls was spent generally for the benefit of AMR. Such a broad assertion is insufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether plaintiffs' mealtimes were spent predominantly for the benefit of AMR.

The nonmoving party has the burden of showing that there are genuine issues of material fact that preclude summary judgment. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Plaintiffs bear the burden here as nonmovants to present evidence showing a genuine issue of material fact, and they have failed to do so. Accordingly, I will not disturb my holding of September 4, 1996, that no reasonable juror could find that plaintiffs' mealtimes were spent predominantly for the benefit of AMR.

B. Applicability of the Order to Dispatchers and Cabulance Drivers

Plaintiffs contend that AMR's summary judgment motion did not seek judgment on dispatchers' claims for mealtime compensation. Defendants concede this point and I need not address it further here.

Plaintiffs also argue that I inadvertently ruled that a two-year statute of limitations will apply to all plaintiffs' claims for overtime. The statute of limitations for overtime claims varies depending upon a finding of willfulness on the part of de...