Bostain v. Food Exp., Inc.

• Citation: 153 P.3d 846,159 Wn.2d 700
• Decision Date: 01 March 2007
• Docket Number: No. 77201-1.,77201-1.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Washington
• Parties: Larie E. BOSTAIN and Laurie Jo Bostain, husband and wife, Petitioners, v. FOOD EXPRESS, INC., an unregistered corporation; and Mark Widing, a single man, Respondents.

153 P.3d 846

159 Wn.2d 700

Larie E. BOSTAIN and Laurie Jo Bostain, husband and wife, Petitioners, v. FOOD EXPRESS, INC., an unregistered corporation; and Mark Widing, a single man, Respondents.

No. 77201-1.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued May 18, 2006.

Decided March 1, 2007.

James F. Gray, Law Offices of James F. Gray, Vancouver, WA, for Petitioners.

Dale Halverson Schofield, Portland, OR, for Respondents.

Amanda J. Goss, Attorney General Office, Seattle, WA, for Amicus Curiae on behalf of State Dept of Labor and Industries.

Philip Albert Talmadge, Talmadge Law Group PLLC, Tukwila, WA, for Amicus Curiae on behalf of American Trucking Associations, Inc., WA Trucking Associations.

Martin S. Garfinkel, Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, Jeffrey Lowell Needle, Seattle, WA, for Amicus Curiae on behalf of Washington Employment Lawyers Association.

MADSEN, J.

¶ 1 Petitioners Larie E. and Laurie Jo Bostain seek reversal of a Court of Appeals' decision holding that Mr. Bostain is not entitled to overtime pay for work as an interstate truck driver because although he worked in excess of 40 hours per week, he did not work more than 40 hours a week within the state of Washington. The Bostains maintain that Mr. Bostain's employer, respondent Food Express, Inc., is liable to Mr. Bostain under Washington's Minimum Wage Act (MWA), chapter 49.46 RCW, for overtime based on all hours worked, whether within Washington State or outside the state. We agree. By definition, an interstate trucker will spend some hours driving outside Washington State. RCW 49.46.130(1) requires overtime compensation for interstate truck drivers. The statute makes no distinction between the hours spent driving in state and those spent driving outside Washington. Accordingly, we reverse the Court of Appeals.

FACTS

¶ 2 Food Express employed Mr. Bostain as a truck driver for almost 10 years before his employment was terminated on May 28, 2002. Food Express, a California corporation headquartered in Arcadia, California, is a motor carrier subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Act (FMCA), 49 U.S.C. §§ 31501-31504. It hauls food products between points in several western states. Food Express's Washington operations include a terminal in Vancouver, Washington, out of which approximately 25 trucks operate. Food Express also owns property in Fruit Valley, Washington, a short distance from the Vancouver terminal where it has its truck wash plant, shop, yard, and maintenance facilities. Food Express has a few trucks parked in the Seattle area and other trucks in other Washington locations. The Washington operations principally involve picking up container loads of bulk products shipped into Washington by rail and delivering them to places in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

¶ 3 Mr. Bostain was hired by Food Express on August 6, 1992, as an interstate truck driver based at the Vancouver terminal. Bostain lived in Clark County, Washington, and worked out of the Vancouver terminal the entire time he worked for Food Express. Dispatchers at the terminal gave him his orders, and he began and ended his runs there. He also turned in his time and picked up his paychecks, which were issued from the Arcadia office, at the Vancouver terminal. He drove with a Washington driver's license.

¶ 4 Food Express paid Bostain an hourly wage, but if he drove over 200 miles it paid him by the mile. Food Express told Bostain when he was hired that because he would be driving interstate he would not receive overtime. Bostain was never paid overtime and did not complain about this until after Food Express fired him for violating federal driving time limitations.¹ A log audit of Bostain's final year of work for Food Express showed that Bostain averaged 48 working hours per week but that he never worked more than 40 hours in a week within Washington.² He spent 37 percent of his driving time in Washington and 63 percent out of state.

¶ 5 On December 3, 2002, the Bostains brought this suit for unpaid overtime, unpaid wages, and willful failure to pay wages. They also sought attorney fees pursuant to RCW 49.46.090(1), RCW 49.48.030, and RCW 49.52.070. The trial court granted summary judgment to the Bostains, ruling that truck drivers are entitled to overtime pay under the MWA if they are employed in Washington but spend some of their driving time outside the state. The trial court also granted attorney fees under RCW 49.46.090(1) and RCW 49.48.030. The court entered judgment against Food Express of $9,846.64 for unpaid overtime wages, $3,236.21 in prejudgment interest, and $15,000 for attorney fees, determined below the lodestar and without a multiplier.

¶ 6 Food Express appealed. The Bostains cross-appealed, contending that they should be awarded double damages under RCW 49.52.070 and that the trial court should have awarded a larger amount for attorney fees. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that Mr. Bostain was not entitled to overtime for hours worked outside Washington State. Bostain v. Food Express, Inc., 127 Wash. App. 499, 111 P.3d 906 (2005), review granted, 156 Wash.2d 1010, 132 P.3d 145 (2006). In light of this holding, the Court of Appeals did not reach the issue of attorney fees. We granted the Bostains' petition for discretionary review. Amicus curiae briefs have been filed by the Washington Trucking Associations/American Trucking Associations, Inc. and the Washington Employment Lawyers Association.³

ANALYSIS

¶ 7 Review of a grant of summary judgment is de novo. Korslund v. DynCorp Tri-Cities Servs., Inc., 156 Wash.2d 168, 177, ¶ 12, 125 P.3d 119 (2005); Berrocal v. Fernandez, 155 Wash.2d 585, 590, ¶ 5, 121 P.3d 82 (2005). Summary judgment is proper if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. CR 56(c); Korslund, 156 Wash.2d at 177, ¶ 12, 125 P.3d 119; Berrocal, 155 Wash.2d at 590, ¶ 5, 121 P.3d 82. Facts and reasonable inferences therefrom are viewed most favorably to the nonmoving party. Korslund, 156 Wash.2d at 177, ¶ 12, 125 P.3d 119; Berrocal, 155 Wash.2d at 590, ¶ 5, 121 P.3d 82. Summary judgment is proper if reasonable minds could reach only one conclusion from the evidence presented. Korslund, 156 Wash.2d at 177, ¶ 12, 125 P.3d 119; Berrocal, 155 Wash.2d at 590, ¶ 5, 121 P.3d 82.

¶ 8 The Bostains contend that the Court of Appeals erroneously concluded that the MWA's overtime provision applies only to work performed within Washington State.

¶ 9 Questions of statutory interpretation are questions of law that are reviewed de novo. Id.; Fluor Hanford, Inc. v. Hoffman, 154 Wash.2d 730, 737, ¶ 5, 116 P.3d 999 (2005). Our goal is to effectuate the legislature's intent. State v. Jacobs, 154 Wash.2d 596, 600, ¶ 7, 115 P.3d 281 (2005). If the statute's meaning is plain, we give effect to that plain meaning as the expression of the legislature's intent. Id. Plain meaning is determined from the ordinary meaning of the language used in the context of the entire statute in which the particular provision is found, related statutory provisions, and the statutory scheme as a whole. Id. If, however, the statutory language is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation, it is ambiguous and we resolve the ambiguity by resort to other indicia of legislative intent, including legislative history, and, if necessary, we then apply principles of statutory construction to resolve any remaining ambiguity. See id.

¶ 10 Subject to specific exemptions, the MWA requires employers to pay their employees (as the act defines "employees") overtime pay for the hours they work over 40 hours per week. RCW 49.46.130; Drinkwitz v. Alliant Techsystems, Inc., 140 Wash.2d 291, 299, 301, 996 P.2d 582 (2000). RCW 49.46.130(1) states that "[e]xcept as otherwise provided in this section, no employer shall employ any of his employees for a work week longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation" for hours worked over 40 hours "at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed." One exemption from this rule applies to interstate bus or truck drivers who are subject to the FMCA, provided that "the compensation system under which the truck or bus driver is paid includes overtime pay, reasonably equivalent to that required by this subsection, for working longer than forty hours per week." RCW 49.46.130(2)(f).⁴

¶ 11 The Bostains maintain that RCW 49.46.130(1) unambiguously requires that overtime must be paid unless a specific exemption applies. They contend that the exemption in subsection (2)(f) does not apply because Mr. Bostain did not receive compensation "reasonably equivalent" to the overtime required under RCW 49.46.130(1), and therefore the administrative rules that the Court of Appeals utilized as aids to interpreting the statute do not apply because these rules pertain only to drivers who are paid "reasonably equivalent" compensation. Food Express contends, however, that the Court of Appeals properly considered language in RCW 49.46.005 and two administrative rules promulgated by the Department of Labor and Industries, WAC 296-128-011 and WAC 296-128-012, in arriving at the conclusion that only hours worked in Washington are considered for purposes of determining whether overtime must be paid.

¶ 12 On its face, RCW 49.46.130(1) does not limit the requirement for overtime pay to hours worked in Washington, nor does it do so specifically for truck drivers subject to the FMCA. The statute contemplates that in general truck drivers will receive overtime pay, evidenced by the fact that the exemption in (2)(f) applies only if the driver obtains overtime or its reasonable equivalent. That is, whether paid under the time-and-a-half provisions of RCW 49.46.130(1) or by "reasonably equivalent" compensation, the statute mandates that truck drivers must obtain extra compensation for hours worked over 40 hours per week. Moreover, by writing the...