Boekemeier v. Fourth Univer. Society in City of Ny
| Decision Date | 15 February 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 96 CIV. 1459 JES.,96 CIV. 1459 JES. |
| Citation | 86 F.Supp.2d 280 |
| Parties | Ralph BOEKEMEIER, Plaintiff, v. FOURTH UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK and the Board of Trustees of Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Randall David Bartlett, Bartlett, Bartlett & Ziegler, New York City, for Plaintiff.
Kenneth A. Margolis, Kauff, McClain & McGuire, New York City, for Defendant.
Plaintiff Ralph Boekemeier, a former employee of defendants the Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York ("Church") and the Board of Trustees of Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York ("Board"), brings the instant action against defendants pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA" or the "Act"), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et. seq., for overtime wages for services rendered for the Church in excess of 35 hours per week. Plaintiff also asserts state law claims for breach of contract and for quantum meruit recovery for his services. Pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, defendants move and plaintiff cross-moves for summary judgment. For the reasons stated below, plaintiff is granted partial summary judgment and defendant is granted partial summary judgment.
A ruling on the instant motions for summary judgment turns primarily upon the extent to which either the Church or plaintiff has engaged in interstate commerce as this term is interpreted by the FLSA. The Church itself is a nonprofit corporation that supplements its income by leasing its facilities and property on a short and long-term basis to individuals and organizations. See Joint Statement of Material Facts As To Which There Is No Genuine Dispute, dated November 13, 1997 ("Jt.Stmnt."), at ¶ 11. In soliciting customers to rent its facilities, the Church performs monthly mass mailings, issues press releases and places advertisements in magazines and on the Internet. Id. at ¶¶ 12-14. Approximately half of the groups that rented space from the Church in 1996 for special events were from a state other than New York. Id. at ¶ 73.
The Church's total income for each fiscal year from 1993 to 1996 surpasses $500,000. As audited, such income can be divided into the categories of rental income, contributions,1 investment income,2 special events income,3 miscellaneous income,4 gain on sale of investments,5 social action committee income,6 and insurance proceeds.7 The following table reflects the amount of income attributable to each such category for the fiscal years in question:
June 1993-June 1994 June 1994-June 1995 June 1995-June 1996
Rental Income $ 467,912 $ 481,427 $ 451,973
Contributions 57,289 41,444 50,690
Investment Income 6,319 6,512 7,008
Special Events 12,087 8,511 9,069
Miscellaneous 3,024 6,718 2,406
Gain on Investment Sales 18,850 (8,982) (1,437)
Social Action Committee 1,123 600 200
Insurance Proceeds 15,520
Limited information is available regarding the extent to which the Church segregated its charitable contributions from its business related income. The parties have stipulated that the Church placed the money it received from its rental activities, contributions and other sources of income into a single, unrestricted fund, and from that fund paid its employees' salaries and other expenses. See id. at ¶ 89. They have also stipulated that according to Board minutes dated November 30, 1994, the Board agreed to supplement Church employees' Christmas bonuses with money that was received in the Church's collection plate, so that the total bonus for such employees equaled $1,000. See id. at ¶ 87.
Plaintiff contends that while employed by the Church, he engaged in interstate commerce by virtue of both his purchases of goods from out-of-state vendors and his work with short and long-term tenants of the Church. Plaintiff commenced employment with the Church in 1990 as an Assistant Building Engineer and retained this position until the termination of his employment on May 14, 1997. See id. at ¶¶ 21-22. As Assistant Building Engineer, plaintiff's job responsibilities included, inter alia, custodial and maintenance work, assisting the Church's short and long-term tenants, and purchasing equipment, cleaning and maintenance supplies. See id. at ¶ 23. For a four month period during his employment, plaintiff temporarily assumed the vacant position of Building Engineer which included similar responsibilities. See id. at ¶ 39.
During times relevant to this litigation, plaintiff purchased custodial supplies and other equipment from five out-of-state vendors. See id. at ¶ 40. The majority of such purchases were for custodial supplies, but on separate occasions plaintiff also purchased a refrigerator, electronics equipment, and a computer from such vendors. See id. at ¶¶ 40-41, 44-46. Plaintiff also claims to have purchased materials from a supplier of plumbing parts from California, but cannot recall the name of the company and is unable to cite any purchases from out-of-state vendors other than those five indicated above. See id. at ¶¶ 40, 43-47.
In sum, the parties have stipulated that plaintiff made between one and four purchases from out-of state vendors in 1992; between three and six such purchases in 1993; between three and four such purchases in 1994; between one and four such purchases in 1995; between two and six such purchases in 1996; and between four and six such purchases from the beginning of 1997 through May 14, 1997, plaintiff's last day of employment with the Church. This results in a total of between fourteen and thirty such purchases between 1992 and 1997. See id. at ¶ 48.
Also as part of his regular duties, on an average of twice per month, plaintiff showed Church facilities to potential short-term tenants for special events like weddings and meetings, although he does not remember any particular party to whom he showed the facilities. See id. at ¶¶ 25-26. Plaintiff also worked directly with some short-term tenants to set up for their special events, both in advance and at the time of their rentals, and at times suggested how such tenants might accomplish what they were trying to do. See id. at ¶ 27. In addition, plaintiff was generally available during special events to help in case any problems arose and to clean up after the event. See id. at ¶ 28. Plaintiff's work for two tenants deserves specific mention for the purposes of this litigation. Specifically, plaintiff performed custodial and maintenance tasks for the Winston Preparatory School ("Winston School") for his entire tenure with the Church, and custodial and "set-up"-related tasks for the National Broadcasting Company ("NBC"), in connection with its use of the Church as a control center during the broadcast of the 1997 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. See id. at ¶¶ 16, 31.
Throughout his employment, plaintiff was paid an annual salary that did not vary according to the number of hours he worked. See id. at ¶ 50. Plaintiff's days and hours of work changed several times during the course of his employment, but throughout he had regularly scheduled hours and was expected to and did work additional hours. See id. at ¶¶ 50-58. At all such times, plaintiff received compensatory time for working excess hours rather than receiving any additional monetary compensation. See id. at ¶¶ 54, 60. The allocation of compensatory time to plaintiff was governed by a compensatory time policy articulated in the Church's personnel manual. See id. at ¶ 66.
The personnel manual provided that employees of the Church were entitled to straight compensatory time for work in excess of thirty-five hours per week if the employee obtained the prior approval of the Director of Management and Marketing or the Minister. See id. An employee could be credited for compensatory time without prior approval if the employee's supervisor approved the overtime and either an emergency existed or the supervisor submitted, post hoc, a written explanation of why additional hours were needed. See id. The personnel manual makes no mention of how compensation time will be treated at an employee's termination.
The Church kept no records of the number of hours plaintiff worked, and as a matter of Church policy, no full-time employees of the Church completed time sheets. See id. at ¶¶ 71-72. Since the beginning of 1993, however, plaintiff maintained records in which he made entries at the end of each Saturday and Sunday he worked, showing the times that he worked each day (the "Weekend Log"). See id. at ¶ 74. He also created a log showing the dates and times in which he worked at special events between August 3, 1994 and June 8, 1995 (the "Special Events Log"). See id. at ¶ 76. Finally, from April 1996 through May 14, 1997, plaintiff recorded his time in Day Timers, which plaintiff converted into a tabular format (the "Day Timers Tabulation"). See id. at ¶ 78.
Defendants have no documents that contradict the information contained in the Weekend Log, the Special Events Log or the Day Timers Tabulation. See id. at ¶¶ 75-77. While plaintiff did not always follow the procedures outlined above in obtaining compensatory time, plaintiff informed Fred Seidler, the Church's Director of Management and Marketing, of the amount of compensatory time that they owed during his employment. See id. at ¶ 69. The Church never denied credit for any such time. See id. at ¶ 70. Defendants do not contest plaintiff's time calculations (other...
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