Benton v. Laborers' Joint Training Fund

• Decision Date: 10 August 2015
• Docket Number: Civil Action No.: 14–1073 (RC)
• Parties: Erin Benton, Plaintiff, v. Laborers' Joint Training Fund, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

121 F.Supp.3d 41

Erin Benton, Plaintiff,

v.Laborers' Joint Training Fund, Defendant.

Civil Action No.: 14–1073 (RC)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed August 10, 2015

Michael K. Amster, Jason D. Friedman, Philip B. Zipin, Zipin, Amster & Greenberg, LLC, Silver Spring, MD, for Plaintiff.

Emily Seymour Costin, Jonathan G. Rose, Alston & Bird LLP, Washington, DC, Kandis Wood Jackson, Alston & Bird LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT, GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S CROSS–MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

RUDOLPH CONTRERAS, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Erica Benton ("Ms.Benton") alleges that her former employer, Defendant Laborers' Training Fund ("the Fund"), failed to pay her more than $22,000 in overtime wages between 2008 and 2012 in violation of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and the D.C. Minimum Wage Act ("DCMWA"). She also alleges that the Fund violated the FLSA by retaliating against her for complaining about unpaid overtime, ultimately terminating her on May 16, 2014.

Now before the Court are the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. Ms. Benton seeks partial summary judgment as to a subset of unpaid overtime hours that she worked between June 25, 2011, and December 31, 2012. She asserts that she is owed $6,194.34 in unpaid wages for that time period, and she requests an equal amount in liquidated damages under the FLSA and DCMWA. The Fund has moved for summary judgment as to all claims, arguing first that the unpaid overtime claims fail as a matter of law because the overtime provisions of the FLSA do not apply to the Fund, which is a non-profit organization, or to Ms. Benton, who worked in an administrative position. The Fund also maintains that Ms. Benton has failed to establish a prima facie case of retaliation, and that she was terminated for legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons. Upon consideration of the parties' motions, the memoranda in support thereof and opposition thereto, and the summary judgment record, the Court will deny Ms. Benton's motion for partial summary judgment as to her FLSA overtime claim, grant the Fund's cross-motion for summary judgment as to the FLSA overtime and retaliation claims, and dismiss without prejudice the DCMWA overtime claim.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Fund is a non-profit 501(c)(5) organization "designed to provide labor training to members of two labor unions in the District of Columbia: Laborers' International Union of North America (‘LIUNA’) Local 657 and Local 11." Def.'s Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute ¶¶ 1, 4, ECF No. 15–2 ("Def.'s SOF"). The training is limited to laborers' classification construction work, Guerrero Dep. 45:5–8, Dec. 8, 2014, ECF No. 15–5, and "the purpose of the Training Fund is to provide unique training to construction laborers who are members of LIUNA to help them qualify for work and to get better work." See Benton Dep. 18:13–17, Dec. 3, 2014, ECF No. 14–4. The organization is a third-party recipient of contributions made pursuant to collective bargaining agreements, and additional funding comes from federal, local, and union grants. Def.'s SOF at ¶¶ 5, 6; Meighan Dep. 6:14–16, Dec. 8, 2014, ECF No. 14–3.

Ms. Benton was a full-time, salaried employee of the Fund from January 1, 2003, until her termination on May 16, 2014. Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Interrog. No. 7, ECF No. 14–5. The parties dispute whether Ms. Benton had an official job title, but she was at times called an "Administrative Assistant," Def.'s Ex. 12 at 6, ECF No. 15–14, and at other times referred to as the "Office Manager," Def.'s Ex. 13 at 2, ECF No. 15–15, or "Assistant to Director," Def.'s Ex. 15 at 2, ECF No. 15–17. When she was first hired, Ms. Benton's responsibilities included clerical duties, filing reports, implementing a database, assisting the director of the Fund, supporting the Fund's instructors, and providing customer service to the Fund's members. Benton Dep. 22:7–11. By 2006, Ms. Benton had gained experience at the Fund and the director had been replaced by an individual who was less familiar with the role, so Ms. Benton took on a greater role in assisting the director, communicating with the Fund's third-party administrator about the Fund's bills, and obtaining grants for the Fund. Id. at 26:2–36:12; 52:13–56:18. Among other things, Ms. Benton also reconciled the petty cash book, processed checks for stipends, ordered office supplies and meals for trainings, assisted in creating the Fund's training schedules, solicited bids for service providers and rental equipment, signed a $35,220 lease for a copier, and kept the office running while the director was out. Id. at 41:16–48:8; 58:18–59:13; 127:17–128:8; 137:19–143:13.

On a number of occasions, Ms. Benton worked during Saturday training sessions put on by the Fund. See Progress Report, Def.'s Ex. 30, ECF No. 15–32. At the trainings, she processed classes and issued certificates and state licenses to attendees. Benton Dep. 267:13–15. She estimates that as a result, she worked 595.5 hours of overtime from 2008 through 2012. Pl.'s Suppl. Resp. to Interrog. No. 15, ECF No. 14–12. Her annual salary during that time ranged from $50,404 to $54,290, and she was not paid time-and-half for hours worked on Saturdays, regardless of whether it caused her to work over forty hours in a given week. Id.

On December 31, 2012, the Fund terminated its relationship with the third-party administrator that had previously handled tasks like administering payroll, benefits, and cutting checks for vendors. Meighan Dep. 30:17–31:17. The decision to administer the Fund internally was made in an effort to reduce the organization's expenses. Benton Dep. at 62:2–63:12. As a result, Mary McNelis began handling the work related to administering the Fund as of January 1, 2013. Id. at 62:2–63:12; 227:5–10. Ms. McNelis "essentially took over a lot of [Ms. Benton's] responsibilities." Benton Dep. 227:5–18; see also McNelis Decl. ¶ 5, ECF No. 15–13.

On April 26, 2013, Justin Meighan, the chairman of the Fund's Board of Trustees, sent a list of "action items" to Fund director Lou DeGraff requiring, among other things, confirmation that Ms. Benton would work only out of the Fund's Local 657 Office in DC during regular work hours and ordering that her work cell phone be cancelled, as she would not need the phone when working at a single site. Meighan e-mail, Def.'s Ex. 16, ECF No. 15–18. Those changes were implemented the following month. Benton Dep. at 260:5–261:9, 267:13–269:19.

In May 2013, some of the Fund's instructors learned that other training funds were being audited in relation to Saturday training session hours worked by instructors. Benton Dep. 81:17–21; 83:4–13. Ms. Benton and the instructors mentioned to Mr. DeGraff what they had heard about the other funds. Id. at 84:2–88:13. Mr. DeGraff told them to "start looking for [their] original employment letters because if there was an issue, he was going to look into it and see what he could do to get [them] compensated." Id. at 85:10–13. The Fund subsequently investigated the overtime hours worked by employees in 2013, terminated Mr. DeGraff, and implemented a new employee handbook in July 2013 that required all overtime to be approved in writing in advance, but it did not investigate any overtime hours worked prior to 2013. Id. at 217:6–218:14.

During a general staff meeting in June or July 2013, the Fund announced that Mr. DeGraff was no longer employed as the Fund's director and that there were going to be changes. See Benton Dep. 97:7–16. When someone brought up Saturdays during the staff meeting, Mr. Meighan "abruptly ended the meeting." Id. at 86:16–87:17; 97:7–98:2. Ms. Benton recalls that when she saw Mr. Meighan after the summer staff meeting, he greeted others but "barely acknowledged" her, id. 87:11–17, and she believes that the work "atmosphere changed" at the Fund "in the way that things were done more by the book," id. at 86:5–7, 91:21–92:10.

As a consequence, Ms. Benton felt as if the Fund employees were "being treated as if they had done something wrong" simply because they had brought the potential overtime issue to the attention of the director. Benton Dep. 84:2–7. She believed management wanted to "take a closer look at what was going on," and there was more "micromanaging" in the office. Id. at 272:12–20. Making matters worse, the new director Jim Anastase was "a screamer and a yeller," and she found him "somewhat hard to deal with." Id. at 239:12–240:3. She complained to Anthony Frederick, who sat on the Fund's Board of Trustees, about the way that she and the instructors were treated by Mr. Anastase, and when she told Mr. Anastase that she expected to be treated with respect, he told her he would not change and she needed thicker skin. Id. at 241:11–24310. When Ms. Benton became ill and took sick leave between late December 2013 and mid-March 2014, she began to look for other employment "[b]ecause the environment was very hard to deal with ... [b]ecause of the director ... Jim Anastase."Id. at 238:10–239:5; 244:11–22. Ms. Benton "became discouraged when no one would basically hear what [she] had to say in regards to some complaints that [she] had with the treatment that [she] was receiving," and there was some "confusion as well regarding [her] performance" at work. Id. at 245:21–246:15.

On May 12, 2014, Ms. Benton went to the Employment Justice Center ("EJC") in the District of Columbia to discuss her overtime concerns. Benton Dep. 284:13–285:4. But when she got to EJC, she filled out an intake form and spoke to a volunteer who told her that EJC had a conflict of interest and could not help her. Id. She never made a claim regarding unpaid overtime with any agency. Id. at 240:19–21.

Ms. Benton was terminated on May 16, 2014. The Fund maintains that Ms. Benton was fired for performance issues, poor attitude, and failure to...