Dillard v. Harris
| Decision Date | 29 September 1989 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 88-8245,88-8439,s. 88-8245 |
| Citation | 885 F.2d 1549 |
| Parties | 29 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 1520, 113 Lab.Cas. P 35,274 Alfreda DILLARD, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Joe Frank HARRIS and Georgia Department of Human Resources, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Gordon R. Alphonso, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, Ga., for defendants-appellants.
Kathleen L. Wilde, ACLU, Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Before RONEY, Chief Judge, HILL, Circuit Judge, and HOWARD *, Chief District Judge.
In this action for overtime pay pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the defendants, Georgia's Governor and Department of Human Resources ("the State"), appeal an injunction and a summary judgment for the plaintiffs, Georgia state hospital employees ("the employees"). We consolidated the two appeals, which involve the same issue: whether the district court misapplied the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act governing the awarding of compensatory time to state employees for overtime work in lieu of cash payments. The court ruled that the State must pay its employees for overtime hours in the absence of a negotiated compensatory-time agreement with the employees chosen representative, even though such negotiation is prohibited by state law. Holding that where state law prohibits agreements with employee representatives, public employers may enter into individual overtime agreements with employees, we reverse.
The issue in this case was recently addressed by the Fourth Circuit in Abbott v. City of Virginia Beach, 689 F.Supp. 600 (E.D.Va.1988), aff'd, 879 F.2d 132 (4th Cir.1989). Since we agree with the analysis made in Judge Wilkins' opinion in that case, we could simply state that we are following that case and that the distinction in facts between that case and this one does not dictate a different result. In so doing, we refuse to follow the Tenth Circuit case which reached a different result. International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 2203 v. West Adams County Fire Protection District, 877 F.2d 814 (10th Cir.1989). Because this issue is surfacing in various courts which are reaching divergent results, however, a discussion of an alternative approach that reaches the same result may be appropriate.
Section 7(o )(2)(A) of the Fair Labor Standards Act relates to whether public employees should get compensatory time or money for overtime work. It provides that a public agency may provide compensatory time, rather than pay, either pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between the employer and "representatives of such employees", or if employees are not covered by that provision, pursuant to an agreement between the employer and the employee arrived at before performance of the work. In the latter case, the regular practice in effect on April 15, 1986 constitutes such an individual agreement for employees hired before that date. 29 U.S.C.A. Sec. 207(o )(2)(A). 1
The critical fact in this case is that the employees designated a representative, but the employer is prohibited by law from entering into an agreement with that representative. The employees take the position that they have a representative and since there is no agreement for compensatory time, money for overtime is required. The employer takes the position that the law prohibits an agreement with an employee representative, so that the alternative section applies to make the issue turn on the agreement with the individual employee.
The problem has had an interesting history. As originally enacted, the wage and overtime provisions of the FLSA did not apply at all to employees of state and local governments. Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Pub.L. 75-718, Sec. 3(d), 52 Stat. 1060. In 1966, however, Congress amended the FLSA to extend minimum wage and overtime pay coverage to many governmental employees, including those working at state hospitals. Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1966, Pub.L. 89-601, Secs. 102(a) & (b), 80 Stat. 830, 831. Georgia's state hospitals, at which the plaintiffs are employed, then began paying their workers cash for overtime work, as required by the FLSA. In 1968, the Supreme Court held that the 1966 amendments were constitutional. See Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183, 88 S.Ct. 2017, 20 L.Ed.2d 1020 (1968).
In 1974, amendments to the FLSA extended coverage to virtually all state employees. Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1974, Pub.L. 93-259, Secs. 6(a)(1) & (6), 88 Stat. 55, 58, 60. Georgia's state agencies again complied. They continued compliance until in National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833, 96 S.Ct. 2465, 49 L.Ed.2d 245 (1976), the Supreme Court overruled its 1968 Wirtz decision and held that certain provisions of the FLSA were unconstitutional because they interfered with "traditional governmental functions" at the state and local level. After Usery, Georgia's state agencies changed their overtime-pay practices and established a state-wide policy which, with only limited exceptions, required awarding compensatory time in lieu of cash payments for overtime work.
In 1985, the Supreme Court overruled Usery in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528, 105 S.Ct. 1005, 83 L.Ed.2d 1016 (1985). State agencies in Georgia and elsewhere again began paying cash for overtime work as the FLSA required. This had an immediate and significant impact on many state and local treasuries. After much investigation and fact-finding, Congress once more amended the FLSA, this time to afford these governmental employers some relief from the burden of paying cash overtime compensation to their covered employees. Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1985, Pub.L. 99-150, 99 Stat. 787.
These amendments allowed public employers to give compensatory time in lieu of cash for overtime hours worked under certain circumstances. See 29 U.S.C.A. Sec. 207(o ). Pursuant to these provisions, Georgia's state agencies on March 1, 1986 once more began awarding their employees compensatory time off for overtime work.
The employees designated the Georgia State Employees' Association (GSEA) as their representative concerning overtime compensation, notified the State of this, and demanded that the State either negotiate with the representative about overtime compensation, or cease using compensatory time and begin cash payments for overtime hours. Asserting that the FLSA permitted its current practice and Georgia law prohibited it from negotiating with third parties over state employees' conditions of employment, the State refused to negotiate with GSEA and continued its compensatory-time policy.
The employees then filed this suit under the FLSA. The district court, relying on 29 C.F.R. Sec. 553.23, determined that GSEA, as the employees' designated representative, was a "representative" under 29 U.S.C.A. Sec. 207(o )(2)(A)(i) for purposes of negotiating over compensatory time, and the State was required either to negotiate a compensatory-time agreement with GSEA or begin paying cash for the employees' overtime hours. The court enjoined the State's use, without an appropriate agreement, of compensatory time as to the employees represented by GSEA (subsequently determined to be all of the plaintiffs) and awarded the employees compensatory damages, costs, and attorneys' fees. Dillard v. Harris, 695 F.Supp. 565 (N.D.Ga.1987).
On appeal, the State maintains that 29 U.S.C.A. Secs. 207(o )(2)(A)(i) & (ii), the provisions allowing agreements on compensatory time, are unambiguous and require no resort to legislative history to determine their meaning. Alternatively, the State argues that even if there is sufficient ambiguity to merit an inquiry into congressional intent, the legislative history, as evidenced by the report of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, reveals that the intended meaning to subclause (i)'s term "representative" is recognized representative. The State contends that the employees have no such recognized representative.
The employees respond that the intended meaning of the term "representative" in subclause (i) is sufficiently ambiguous to require an inquiry into legislative history. They rely primarily on Department of Labor (DOL) regulation 29 C.F.R. Sec. 553.23 and the legislative history reflected in the report of the House Committee on Labor and Human Resources as proof that Congress intended for mere designative, not formal recognition, of a representative to be sufficient. GSEA clearly was the employees' designated representative.
We are satisfied with the way the Fourth Circuit dealt with these arguments in Abbott v. City of Virginia Beach, 879 F.2d at 135, stating that the statute was unclear and looking to the legislative history, following the method of analysis of the district court. Abbott v. City of Virginia Beach, 689 F.Supp. 600 (E.D.Va.1988). Equally satisfactory, in our judgment, would be this analysis: the statute on its face is plain, and the legislative history does not mandate a contrary interpretation.
Generally, if a statute is unambiguous on its face, the courts will look to legislative history only to see if there is a " 'clearly expressed legislative intent' contrary to that language." Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 432 n. 12, 107 S.Ct. 1207, 1214 n. 12, 94 L.Ed.2d 434 (1987) (citations omitted). If the Senate and House histories conflict, the history of the body in which the enacted bill originated is normally more persuasive. Steiner v. Mitchell, 350 U.S. 247, 254, 76 S.Ct. 330, 334-35, 100 L.Ed. 267 (1956).
The plain language of 29 U.S.C.A. Secs. 207(o )(2)(A)(i) & (ii) indicates that a State agency may use compensatory time only if it does so under subclause (i) pursuant to the terms of an agreement...
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...The Court of Appeals affirmed, but relied on slightly different reasoning. It seemed to agree with an Eleventh Circuit case, Dillard v. Harris, 885 F.2d 1549 (1989), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 878, 111 S.Ct. 210, 112 L.Ed.2d 170 (1990), that the words "not covered" in subclause (ii) refer to th......
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