Blain v. General Electric Company

• Decision Date: 19 July 1971
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 6261.
• Parties: Harold T. BLAIN et al., Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Kentucky

371 F. Supp. 857

Harold T. BLAIN et al., Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 6261.

United States District Court, W. D. Kentucky, Louisville Division.

July 19, 1971.

Raymond L. Sales, Louisville, Ky., for plaintiff.

Galen J. White, Jr., Louisville, Ky., for defendant.

OPINION

BRATCHER, District Judge.

This action under Section 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., was removed from the Common Pleas Branch, Jefferson Circuit Court, Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Plaintiffs claim from defendant, General Electric Company, overtime pay under Section 7 of the Act for a scheduled 18 minute meal period. They also demand liquidated damages, attorney's fee and costs.

After trial without a jury, this Court holds that plaintiffs' complaint as amended should be dismissed.

Findings of Fact

Plaintiffs are 62 present and former hourly employees of defendant, General Electric Company, who have been employed all or a part of the period from April 14, 1968 to date of trial in the Range Department tool room, Section 204, in Building 2 at defendant's facility known as Appliance Park in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Substantially all plaintiffs, while employed in Section 204, have been members of the Kentucky Skilled Craft Guild, a labor union, which was succeeded in 1970 by Lodge 2049 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District 27 (AFL-CIO), hereafter referred to as the "Union."

Defendant is a New York corporation doing business in Kentucky at Appliance Park, where it manufactures household appliances. Its employees are regularly engaged in commerce and in the production of goods for commerce within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The employees in Section 204 maintain, repair and modify manufacturing tools and dies. This work requires great individual skill and responsibility, and these employees work with minimal supervision.

Section 204 is a three shift operation which has a policy of "following a job" which may be worked on continuously through successive shifts until completion. The most effective way of achieving this is face-to-face communication between the incoming and outgoing shifts. To accomplish this it is desirable to have some overlap among shifts.

In January, 1968, and for some time prior thereto, the schedules of the three shifts were: First shift from 6:48 A.M. to 3:18 P.M.; second shift from 3:18 P.M. to 11:48 P.M.; and third shift from 10:30 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. Each shift had a 30 minute meal period.

The unequal overlap created by this schedule resulted in the inefficient utilization of manpower and equipment and caused inadequate communication between successive shifts. In late 1967, the Section 204 manager, Shaughnessy, began to explore with the employees alternative ways of adjusting the work schedule to achieve a uniform overlap.

In February, 1968, Shaughnessy met separately with the Union shop steward on each shift. He asked each steward to poll his shift to determine whether the employees wished to retain the 30 minute meal period with a 30-minute shift overlap or to change to an 18 minute meal period with an 18 minute overlap (payroll time is measured by tenths of an hour).

A short time later the stewards reported to Shaughnessy that most employees preferred the 18 minute meal period. However, the three shifts could not agree among themselves on starting and quitting times which would accomplish uniform shift overlap.

As a result of the continuing disagreement among the shifts about starting and quitting times Shaughnessy eventually determined, as he had a right to do under the Union agreement, to set the starting and quitting times for each shift with a scheduled 18 minute meal period. He picked the 18 minute period based on the employees' preference as expressed by the stewards. The stewards were orally advised of the new schedule in mid-March, 1968.

Thereafter some employees complained about the starting and quitting times. Shaughnessy then asked plaintiff, Blain, at the time President of the Union and its principal spokesman, to find out from the employees whether they wanted an 18 minute or a 30 minute meal period. Shaughnessy told Blain that he would set the starting and quitting times.

Blain shortly thereafter reported to Shaughnessy that the employees chose the 18 minute meal period. Shaughnessy thereupon advised Blain that he would put the 18 minute meal period into effect with starting times of 7:00 A.M., 3:00 P.M. and 11:00 P.M. Blain replied that the schedule would have the support of the Union.

Shortly after his conversation with Blain, Shaughnessy posted the following schedule, effective April 14, 1968: First shift from 7:00 A.M. to 3:18 P.M. with a meal period from 10:54 to 11:12; second shift from 3:00 P.M. to 11:18 P.M. with a meal period from 7:30 P.M. to 7:48 P.M.; and third shift from 11:00 P.M. to 7:18 P.M. with a meal period from 3:00 A.M. to 3:18 A.M.

At or about this same time, Section 204 employees were advised by Shaughnessy through the stewards and Blain that if they were dissatisfied with the 18 minute meal period they should file a grievance and Shaughnessy would immediately change back to a 30 minute meal period. This offer has since been repeated several times. Shaughnessy has also offered from time to time to revise the starting and quitting times.

From April 14, 1968 to the date of trial no grievance has been filed protesting the scheduled 18 minute meal period; nor has Shaughnessy ever been asked informally to change the 18 minute meal period to a 30 minute meal period. In fact the 18 minute meal period is preferred by the great majority of the Section 204 employees.

The scheduled 18 minute meal period for each shift occurs at the same time each day and is intended and used as a meal period. The meal period during each shift is immediately preceded by a paid wash-up period at least five minutes long. After using the nearby washroom facilities, most employees regularly begin eating during the wash-up period. They finish their meals before the end of the meal period. During the wash-up period and meal period no employees work; nor are they available for work. No signal is given to end the meal period precisely on the minute.

About six or eight first shift employees eat in the cafeteria which is a very short distance from Section 204. The cafeteria is only open on the first shift. The remaining employees on all shifts either bring their lunch boxes or bags, purchase their meals at a fully stocked canteen, or eat "TV" dinners which are kept in refrigerators and then heated in stoves located in the tool room. A few employees use these facilities to prepare more elaborate meals. The employees who do not eat in the cafeteria generally eat at the work tables in the tool room but they are not required to be there. Some employees also read, play cards or sleep during the meal period; a few visit with friends at other locations. The employees have adequate time in which to eat their meals.¹

In addition to the meal periods, the first and second shifts take casual breaks at their convenience during the work day. The employees are paid for these rest breaks. On the third shift there are two regularly scheduled tenminute paid rest breaks before and after the meal period. There is also a paid wash-up period of at least five minutes prior to the end of each shift.

Conclusions of Law

The parties and the subject matter of this action under the Fair Labor Standards Act are properly before this Court. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1337, 1391, 1441.

The primary aim of the Act is to protect employees from the exploitation of substandard wages and excessive hours. 29 U.S.C. § 202; e. g. Brooklyn Savings Bank v. O'Neil, 324 U.S. 697, 65 S.Ct. 895, 89 L.Ed. 1296 (1945). The Act provides in 29 U.S.C. § 207 that "no employer shall employ any of his employees" for more than forty hours a week unless they are paid one and a half times their regular rate for all time in excess of forty hours.

Under the Act "`Employ' includes to suffer or permit to work." 29 U.S.C. § 203(g). But the Act does not define "work" and leaves the definition to the courts.

In Tennessee C. I. & R. Co. v. Muscoda Local 123, 321 U.S. 590, 598, 64 S.Ct. 698, 88 L.Ed. 949 (1944), the Supreme Court defined "work" as including "physical or mental exertion" for the employer's benefit. In subsequent cases the Court held that "work" is not limited to "exertion"; it also includes any time which the employee spends in behalf of his employer such as stand-by or waiting time. Armour & Co. v. Wantock, 323 U.S. 126, 65 S.Ct. 165, 89 L.Ed. 118 (1944); Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134, 65 S.Ct. 161, 89 L.Ed. 124 (1944). However, where an employee is completely relieved of his employment obligations during any particular time and can use that time for his own purposes, he is not entitled under the Act to be compensated for the time. See 29 C.F.R. § 785.16.

In this action plaintiffs have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the regularly scheduled 18 minute meal period must be counted as hours worked and thus is compensable under the Act. Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680, 66 S.Ct. 1187, 90 L.Ed. 1515 (1945); Bloch v. Bell, 63 F.Supp. 863 (W.D.Ky.1945), aff'd, 152 F.2d 962 (6th Cir. 1946).

Plaintiffs rely on the Interpretative Bulletin on Hours Worked issued by the Wage-Hour Administrator. 29 C.F.R. Part 785. They urge that the regularly scheduled 18 minute meal period cannot qualify as a bona fide meal period and is no more than a compensable rest break. The particular Sections of the Bulletin in question are as follows:

"REST AND MEAL PERIODS

Section 785.18 — REST.

"Rest periods of short duration, running from 5 minutes to about 20 minutes, are common in industry. They promote the efficiency of the employee and are customarily paid for as working time. They must

...