Evans v. Dart
| Decision Date | 08 June 2021 |
| Docket Number | No. 20 C 2453,20 C 2453 |
| Parties | DAVID EVANS III, RASHID MUHAMMAD, MONTA SERVANT, FELISHA PARNELL, DWIGHT ANDERSON, JOSEPH TINOCO, and FRANK DONIS, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. THOMAS J. DART, Sheriff of Cook County, COUNTY OF COOK, ILLINOIS, a unit of local government as joint employer for FLSA purposes and as indemnitor, RAMON D. WILLIAMS (Individual Capacity), and ANTHONY MCGEE (Individual Capacity), Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiffs are correctional officers for the Cook County Department of Corrections ("CCDOC"). In March of 2020, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, they began spending approximately 20 to 30 minutes washing and sanitizing their uniforms, persons, and personal protective equipment ("PPE") before and after their shifts. Plaintiffs seek minimum wage and overtime compensation for time spent engaging in these decontamination and sanitation activities. See Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 206, 207 (Counts 1 and 2). Plaintiff Rashid Muhammad alleges, further, that by failing to pay him as promised for a particular assignment, Defendants Thomas J. Dart (Sheriff of Cook County) and Cook County violated the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act ("IWPCA"), 820 ILCS 115/1, et seq. (Count 3). Plaintiff David Evans III alleges that Defendants Ramon D. Williams and Anthony McGee, the President and Vice President, respectively, of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 700 ("Local 700" or "Union") retaliated against him for bringing this suit in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3) of FLSA (Count 4) and in violation of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act ("LMRDA"), 29 U.S.C. § 411(a) (Count 5). The court has federal question jurisdiction over Counts 1, 2, 4, and 5 under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, and supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law IWPCA claim (Count 3) under 28 U.S.C. § 1367.
Before the court are four motions to dismiss. First, Defendant Dart moves to dismiss Counts 1-3 for improper venue and to compel arbitration, or, in the alternative, to compel joinder of Local 700 as a necessary and indispensable party. Defendants Williams and McGee have filed separate motions to dismiss Counts 4 and 5 for failure to state a claim. Finally, Defendant Cook County moves to dismiss Counts 1-3 for failure to state a claim. For the reasons provided below, the court denies Defendant Dart's motion to dismiss for improper venue and denies the motion to compel joinder of Local 700, grants Defendant Williams's motion to dismiss, grants Defendant McGee's motion to dismiss, and denies Defendant Cook County's motion to dismiss.
At this stage of the proceedings, the court accepts the factual allegations in Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint ("SAC") as true. Plaintiffs David Evans III, Rashid Muhammad, Joseph Tinoco, Frank Donis, Felisha Parnell, Monta Servant, and Dwight Anderson are correctional officers at the CCDOC. (SAC [16] ¶¶ 5-11.) Plaintiffs work eight to sixteen hour shifts inside the CCDOC (id ¶ 32-33), sometimes overseeing isolated, quarantined, and COVID-19 positive detainees. (Id. ¶ 34.) By necessity, Plaintiffs work in close proximity with other officers and detainees, and monitor the safety and security of those detainees. (Id. ¶¶ 35-36.) Defendant Dart oversees the CCDOC in his capacity as Sheriff of Cook County (id. ¶ 13), while Defendant Cook County is responsible for the payment of Plaintiffs' wages. (Id. ¶ 14-15.) According to Plaintiffs, Dart is an employer within the meaning of the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 203(d), and Cook County is a joint employer for purposes of the FLSA and the IWPCA. (SAC ¶¶ 13-15 (citing 820ILCS 115/2), ¶ 24.) Regardless whether Cook County is a "joint employer," it is undisputed that Cook County pays Plaintiffs' wages. The court construes Plaintiffs' claims against Dart as wage claims against Cook County.
On March 9, 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker declared that all counties in Illinois were disaster areas in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Id. ¶ 27.) Defendant Dart has sent numerous emails and memoranda to staff, including Plaintiffs, encouraging them to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") regarding PPE and hygiene. (Id. ¶¶ 29, 43.) Correctional officers have nevertheless tested positive for COVID-19 at a higher rate than the general population in Cook County. (Id. ¶ 37.) As of April 8, 2020, the Cook County Jail had the largest known COVID outbreak in the United States (id. ¶ 28); since then, at least two correctional officers have died from exposure to COVID-19 within the CCDOC. (Id. ¶¶ 30-31.)
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, Plaintiffs have been engaging in extensive decontamination, cleaning, and sanitizing activities (collectively, "decontamination activities") at the beginning and end of their shifts. (Id. ¶ 38.) Such activities include "washing and sanitizing their uniforms, sanitizing their persons, sanitizing and maintaining [PPE], and showering." (Id. ¶ 20.) Plaintiffs perform decontamination activities before a shift, to minimize the introduction of COVID-19 to the Cook County Jail, and after a shift, to avoid bringing COVID-19 home to their families. (Id. ¶ 39.) Plaintiffs allege that these activities are for the benefit of Defendants Dart and Cook County, and that decontamination activities "constitute integral and indispensable parts of the Sheriff's principal activities," which include "providing safe and secure housing, transporting, overseeing, and monitoring [ ] detainees." (Id. ¶ 40.) Plaintiffs have each spent approximately 20 to 30 minutes at the beginning and/or end of their shifts engaging in decontamination activities (id. ¶¶ 45-51), but have not been paid for this time. (Id. ¶ 44.)
Plaintiffs believe that they and similarly situated correctional officers are owed unpaid wages—for at least one workweek between March 9, 2020 and the date this suit was filed—for decontamination activities at the beginning and end of their shifts. (Id. ¶¶ 5-11, 20.) A collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") governs their pay and working conditions, but that agreement, Plaintiffs contend, is silent as to decontamination activities.1 (Id ¶ 53.) They contend, further, that there is no custom or practice to pay for decontamination activities and that decontamination activities have never been the subject of collective bargaining between the Cook County Sheriff's Office ("CCSO") and Plaintiffs' union, Teamsters Local 700. (Id. ¶ 54.)
The CBA, which names both Cook County and the CCSO as "joint employers," contains bargained-for provisions concerning employer rights, overtime policy and procedures, temporary reassignments, rates of pay, overtime compensation, safety and working conditions, and the grievance process.2 Of particular relevance for this case, the employer rights provision states:
The Employer has the right to take any and all actions as may be necessary to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the employer in situations of civil emergency as may be declared by the employer. It is the sole discretion of the employer to determine that civil emergency conditions exist, which may include but not be limited to riots, civil disorders, tornado conditions, floods, other emergency conditions, or other circumstances beyond the control of the employer which call for immediate action whereas it may be required to assign employees as the Employer deems necessary to carry out its duties and responsibilities. Upon completion of the emergency assignment, the Officer shall be returned to his original assignment immediately.
(CBA, Section 2.1 (emphases added).) Article XI details the procedure for filing grievances, which are defined as "difference[s] between an employee or the Union and the employer with respect to the interpretation or application of, or compliance with the terms of this Agreement between the Employer and the Union." (CBA, Section 11.2.) If the Union is unsatisfied with the first two steps of the grievance process, it must submit the grievance to binding arbitration. (CBA, Section 11.4.)
In Counts 1 and 2, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants Dart and Cook County (collectively, "Cook County Defendants") have violated the FLSA's minimum wage and overtime provisions. See 29 U.S.C. §§ 206, 207. Specifically, the Cook County Defendants "suffered or permitted" Plaintiffs and similarly situated correctional officers to work by engaging in decontamination activities. (Id. ¶¶ 63-65.) In Count 1, they seek their "straight-time rates of pay," in accordance with their years of service, for 20 to 30 minutes before and after their shifts, between March 9, 2020 and the cessation of COVID-19 protocols at the CCDOC. (Id. ¶ 66.) In Count 2, they seek unpaid overtime rates of pay, in accordance with their years of service, for weeks when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. (Id. ¶ 71.) Plaintiffs also seek certification of a collective action on both counts.
On March 27, 2020, CCSO Superintendent Martha Yoksoulian sent an email to correctional officers, including Plaintiff Rashid Muhammad, offering time-and-a-half pay for officers who volunteered to work at the Mental Health Transition Center ("MHTC") while detainees who had tested positive for COVID-19 were housed there. (Id. ¶ 57.) The email noted, however, that "it has not been decided if it [the additional compensation] will be in time or pay." (Id.) Plaintiff Muhammad replied to the email, noting that he was (Id.) The CCSO "accepted Muhammad's offer," Plaintiffs allege, bytransferring him to...
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