Figueroa v. Dist. of D.C. Metro. Police Dep't

Decision Date11 February 2011
Docket NumberNo. 09–7133.,09–7133.
Citation633 F.3d 1129
PartiesPablo FIGUEROA, et al., Appellantsv.DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT, Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:07–cv–01992).John V. Berry argued the cause for appellants. With him on the briefs was Stephanie E. Hosea.James C. McKay, Jr., Senior Assistant Attorney General, Attorney General's Office for the District of Columbia, argued the cause for appellee. With him on the brief were Peter J. Nickles, Attorney General, Todd S. Kim, Solicitor General, and Donna M. Murasky, Deputy Solicitor General. Mary L. Wilson, Assistant Attorney General, entered an appearance.Before: GINSBURG, ROGERS, and GARLAND, Circuit Judges.Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge GARLAND.GARLAND, Circuit Judge:

Officers of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) sued their employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), alleging that MPD had failed to calculate their overtime based on enhanced pay owed to detective sergeants under the District of Columbia Code. The district court dismissed the officers' claims as barred by the statute of limitations. Although we agree that some of the officers' claims are untimely, we do not agree that all of their claims are barred. Because a new cause of action accrues each time MPD issues a deficient paycheck, claims based on paychecks falling within the limitations period are timely.

I

The District of Columbia Code provides that [e]ach officer or member [of the MPD] who is promoted ... to the rank of detective sergeant shall receive, in addition to his scheduled rate of basic compensation, $595 per annum ... so long as he remains in such assignment.” D.C.Code § 5–543.02(c). On December 12, 2003, three of the four plaintiffs in this case filed a grievance through their union, alleging that they had fulfilled the duties of detective sergeant but had not received the additional $595 per year stipend. In a December 29, 2003 letter, the Chief of Police denied the grievance, stating that the Department had not utilized the position of detective sergeant for more than two decades.

In accordance with its collective bargaining agreement, the officers' union then sought a ruling on the issue from an arbitrator. The arbitrator found that the D.C. Code provision applied to the officers because they had performed the functions of detective sergeant. He rejected MPD's argument that the grievance was untimely, concluding that the officers had not previously “discovered” the D.C. Code provision, and, moreover, that their claim was for “an on-going and continuing violation.” Arbitrator's Opinion at 6 (June 11, 2004) (J.A. 106). He then awarded the officers “the Status of Detective Sergeant” and back pay of $595 per year. Id. at 8 (J.A. 108). On September 30, 2005, the District of Columbia's Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) denied MPD's request to set aside the arbitrator's award. PERB Decision at 2–4 (J.A. 96–98).

Following the PERB's ruling, MPD took steps to compensate retroactively those officers who had served as detective sergeants. In 2007, it amended the personnel forms of three of the plaintiffs to show that they had served and continued to serve as detective sergeants, and it gave them lump sum payments of $595 per year for every year they were assigned to the position. The Department did not, however, recalculate the officers' overtime based on the $595 stipend. At the time this lawsuit was filed, the fourth plaintiff had neither been reclassified as a detective sergeant nor awarded back pay.

On November 5, 2007, the officers filed a complaint against MPD in United States District Court, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. The complaint alleged three violations: (1) willful failure to pay minimum wages, in violation of § 206(b); (2) untimely payment of wages, in violation of § 206(b); and (3) willful failure to pay overtime, in violation of § 207(a). The officers also alleged that the Department violated the detective sergeant provision of D.C.Code § 5–543.02(c). The district court found the D.C. Code claim barred by res judicata on the ground that the arbitration proceeding constituted a final judgment on the merits, and it found the FLSA claims barred by the statute of limitations. It therefore entered summary judgment in favor of MPD. Figueroa v. D.C. Metro. Police Dep't, 658 F.Supp.2d 148, 152, 154 (D.D.C.2009). This appeal followed.

II

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Montgomery v. Chao, 546 F.3d 703, 706 (D.C.Cir.2008). Summary judgment is appropriate only if “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); see Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247–48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). We must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, draw all reasonable inferences in his favor, and eschew making credibility determinations or weighing the evidence.” Montgomery, 546 F.3d at 706.

On appeal, the officers challenge only one aspect of the district court's decision: its conclusion that their FLSA overtime claims are time-barred. The overtime claims are based on 29 U.S.C. § 207(a), which provides that “no employer shall employ any of his employees ... for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.” The officers charge that, in calculating their overtime compensation, MPD failed to include within the “regular rate” the $595 stipend for detective sergeants required by D.C.Code § 5–543.02(c). Because the district court found the officers' complaint barred by the FLSA's statute of limitations, it did not address the merits of their argument. See Figueroa, 658 F.Supp.2d at 154–55.

The FLSA provides affected employees with a cause of action to recover for violation of its overtime provision, see 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), and its statute of limitations provides that any action to collect unpaid overtime “shall be forever barred unless commenced within two years after the cause of action accrued, except that a cause of action arising out of a willful violation may be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrued,” 29 U.S.C. § 255(a). MPD maintains that the appellants' FLSA claims are time-barred because they accrued more than three years before this lawsuit was filed—the first time the officers improperly failed to receive the compensation of a detective sergeant, a position MPD eliminated more than twenty years ago. The appellants counter that their claims did not accrue that early because MPD misrepresented the existence of the position and they did not know of their rights under the D.C. Code.

Whatever the validity of the plaintiffs' contention regarding their knowledge prior to December 12, 2003, it is clear that they knew of their claims as of that date—because on that date they filed their grievance for non-payment under § 5–543.02(c). See Figueroa, 658 F.Supp.2d at 154–55 & n. 9. Had the officers filed their lawsuit within three years of December 12, 2003, they might have been able to assert earlier claims. But they did not. Instead, they filed almost four years later, on November 5, 2007. As a consequence, they may not now recover for non-willful violations that occurred more than two years or for willful violations that occurred more than three years before they filed their complaint. That is, they may not now recover for violations that occurred before November 5, 2004.1

The appellants contend that they are not barred from asserting claims arising before November 5, 2004 because they were unable to bring any claims until the PERB affirmed the arbitrator's decision. In their view, the PERB's determination that they had a right to the $595 yearly stipend was a “condition precedent” to their FLSA suit. Appellants' Br. 20. And because the PERB did not make that determination until September 2005, they maintain that their November 2007 complaint was timely as to all willful violations.

But as the district court held and the appellants conceded at oral argument, there is nothing in the FLSA that requires a claimant to obtain a favorable administrative decision before he or she can sue in federal court. See Figueroa, 658 F.Supp.2d at 154, 155 n. 9; Oral. Arg. Recording at 8:30–9:04. The Federal Circuit's decision in Cook v. United States, 855 F.2d 848 (Fed.Cir.1988), upon which the appellants rely by analogy, does not assist them. In that case, an amendment to the FLSA made “the right of firefighters to statutory overtime depend[ ] on a condition precedent, the performance of ... [a] study” by the Secretary of Labor. Id. at 851. Accordingly, the court held that the plaintiff firefighters' cause of action did not accrue until that condition was fulfilled. Id. The FLSA provision at issue here, by contrast, contains no such precondition.2 Hence, nothing relieves the appellants of the bar against bringing claims that arose before November 5, 2004.3

This analysis does not, however, preclude the appellants from bringing FLSA claims that arose after November 5, 2004. In dismissing the officers' complaint outright, the district court implicitly concluded that they have no such claims. The officers disagree, arguing that [e]ach time Appellants received a paycheck without proper overtime compensation, a new cause of action accrued under the FLSA.” Appellants' Br. 22. Thus, claims arising from paydays after November 5, 2004 are not barred.

MPD contends that the...

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