Godard v. Alabama Pilot, Inc.

• Decision Date: 10 April 2007
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 06-0267-WS-C.
• Citation: 485 F.Supp.2d 1284
• Parties: J. Daniel GODARD, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. ALABAMA PILOT, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama

Page 1284

485 F.Supp.2d 1284

J. Daniel GODARD, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. ALABAMA PILOT, INC., Defendant.

Civil Action No. 06-0267-WS-C.

United States District Court, S.D. Alabama, Southern Division.

April 10, 2007.

Edward I. Zwilling, Schwartz, Sweben & Associates, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiffs.

William C. Tidwell, III, Hand Arendall, L.L.C., Mobile, AL, for Defendant.

ORDER

STEELE, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. 45) and Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. 54). Both Motions have been fully briefed and are ripe for disposition at this time.

I. Factual Background.

This collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq. ("FLSA"), involves a singular question, to-wit: whether the nine similarly situated plaintiffs in this case are properly considered exempt from overtime, compensation under the FLSA. More precisely, this lawsuit turns on the statutory provision that exempts "any employee employed as a seaman" from the ambit of the FLSA's overtime pay requirements. 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(6).

The obvious starting point for the analysis is to determine what plaintiffs' job duties actually are and how they spend their working hours. On this point, the parties agree that the material facts are largely undisputed. The nine plaintiffs in this case are launch operators, currently or formerly employed by defendant, Alabama Pilot, Inc. (Barrett Aff., ¶ 3.)¹ These launch operators navigate and pilot Alabama Pilot's two small boats (called "launches" or "pilot boats") that ferry bar pilots to and from vessels entering or leaving the Port of Mobile, including the Theodore ship channel and the Port of Bayou LaBatre.² Thus, the launch operators are responsible for captaining the boats that transport the bar pilots from a pilot station on Dauphin Island to inbound vessels at the entrance of Mobile ship channel, and that likewise transport bar pilots from outbound vessels at the mouth of the Mobile ship channel back to the pilot station. (Godard Dep., at 76; McClure Dep., at 100; Burns Dep., at Exh. 8.)³

Alabama Pilot's launch operators work long hours set by a collective bargaining agreement. Until May 2006, the launch operators worked 24 consecutive hours on duty (in the form of two back-to-back 12-hour shifts), followed by 48 consecutive hours off duty. (Godard Dep., at 55; Wittendorfer Dep., at 33.) The result was that plaintiffs would work 72 hours one week, then 48 hours for each of the next two weeks, before the cycle would repeat itself. (Barrett Dep., at 30-31.) As of May 2006, however, the arrangement changed, such that Alabama Pilot now schedules launch operators to work seven consecutive 12-hour "day" shifts, followed by seven consecutive 12-hour "night" shifts, followed by seven consecutive days off. (McClure Dep., at 20; Johnson Dep., at 20.) Under this system, then, plaintiffs work 84 hours per week for two straight weeks, then 0 hours for the third week. Both prior to and after the May 2006 scheduling change, Alabama Pilot has never paid plaintiffs overtime compensation under the FLSA for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek.⁴ In general, plaintiffs are paid a flat "daily rate" for each 12-hour shift, which rate has, increased annually from $124.96 in 2003 to approximately $149.00 in 2006. (Wittendorfer Dep., at 31-32.)⁵

The critical factual questions in this action relate to the job duties that launch operators perform, and the proportion of their working hours that they devote to particular categories of duties. Neither the plaintiff launch operators nor the defendant employer have maintained minuteby-minute reports, comprehensive logs, or other detailed time records that specifically track how the launch operators spend their time (Godard Dep., at 218; McClure Dep., at 56; Wescovich Dep., at 49; Johnson Dep., at 39; Collier Dep., at 59-60); therefore, it is necessary to piece together a summary of their activities from the record, which includes excerpts from each of the nine named plaintiffs' depositions.⁶

Launch operators report for duty at a land-based structure consisting of a boat dock and pilot station on Dauphin Island. (Wittendorfer Dep., at 49; Godard Dep., at 80-81.) The pilot station is a freestanding building containing a "radio room" from which launch operators monitor radio and telephone communications relating to the scheduling and transport of bar pilots. (Id.)⁷ There is broad consensus among the parties that transporting bar pilots by boat to and from vessels requiring bar pilot services is the launch operators' foremost job duty. In that regard, plaintiff Dan Godard agreed that the launch operators' primary function was "to put them on the ship or get them off the ship." (Godard Dep., at 76.) Similarly, plaintiff Doug McClure testified that the launch operators' "main job" is to drive the pilot boat and to "[s]ee that the pilots are safely out there and safely back." (McClure Dep., at 32, 41.) Other plaintiffs testified similarly. (Steiner Dep., at 26; Wescovich Dep., at 27.)

While operating Alabama Pilot's two launches (the Alabama and the Mobile Pilot) may be plaintiffs' primary duty, it is undisputed that they neither spend 100% of their working hours captaining a pilot boat nor spend their entire shift on the boat. (Godard Dep., at 78; McClure Dep., at 22-23.) Indeed, Alabama Pilot's records reflect that, between March 2004 and. August 2006, the pilot boats operated for 7.09 hours per 24-hour period, or 29.5% of the time. (Barrett Dep., at 39-40.)⁸ That fact, which neither side challenges, raises the question of what the launch operators are doing for the nearly 17 hours of each 24-hour shift, or the nearly 8.5 hours of each 12-hour shift, in which they are not actually operating the launches.⁹

Pilot boats do not operate on a set, routine schedule, but may be called into service anytime, day or night, and often on short notice, depending on the need for bar pilots. When the launches are not operating, Alabama Pilot's launch operators do not remain aboard those boats waiting to spring into action; instead, they spend most of their time inside the pilot station, approximately 30 feet from the docks. (Wittendorfer Dep., at 53; Barrett Dep., at 57.) There is no dispute that the plaintiffs spend a significant percentage of their on-duty hours on standby, sitting in the radio room, monitoring the radio and telephone, and waiting for calls requesting that a bar pilot be either picked up or 'delivered to another vessel. (McClure Dep., at 35, 42-43; Wescovich Dep., at 32; Murphy Dep., at 30.) Although other estimates may exist, plaintiff Tommy Wescovich testified that the launch operators spend "[o]ver half' of their working time waiting to be called to pick up or drop off a bar pilot. (Wescovich Dep., at 32.)¹⁰ At any given moment, two launch operators are on, duty. (McClure Dep., at 40.) That way, if one launch operator is moving cars or otherwise away from the pilot station, the other can remain at the station to monitor radio traffic. (Id.) When the launch, operators are not piloting a boat, one can listen for the radio and telephone while the other one rests in crew quarters or performs odd jobs around the pilot station and its environs. (Collier Dep., at 48.)¹¹

Plaintiffs characterize the radio/telephone duties as dispatching, and suggest that they spend an inordinate share of their time engaging in such dispatching functions. In that regard, launch operators contend that they are on the telephone "almost constantly over a 24 hour period" fielding calls from line handlers wanting to know when ships will arrive in port, from the Coast Guard inquiring about particular ship runs, from pilots (both on-duty and off-duty) inquiring about scheduling matters, and the like, all of which prompts plaintiffs to contend that these were mere dispatching duties. (Godard Dep., at 175.) But Alabama Pilot also employs two full-time dispatchers, who are not parties in this action. (Id. at 176.) Those dispatchers are responsible for calling the launch operators to furnish them with a schedule of ships, and to notify the launch operators of any changes to that schedule. (Wescovich Dep., at 44.)

When not operating the launch boats or monitoring radio and telephone traffic, the launch operators fill their working hours with a dizzying array of odd jobs and general labor tasks. According to plaintiffs, launch operators' duties are "many and varied," and include such functions as painting the house, watering the grass, fueling and moving cars, planting and fertilizing trees and bushes, repairing fences and cabinetry, cleaning windows and toilets, and the like, such that their duties are "[j]ust general labor and whatever had to be done." (Godard Dep., at 76.) In the words of plaintiff McClure, the launch operators spend more time doing "general handyman stuff' like driving cars, working around the yard, moving dirt and rocks, and cleaning up storm debris than they do operating the pilot boats: (McClure Dep., at 30.) Launch operators "did a multitude of stuff that we don't ordinarily do when you are at sea." (Steiner Dep., at 24.) For example, launch operators mop and sweep the pilot station, take out the trash, clean the refrigerator, clean the stove, and cook meals and wash dishes for themselves. (Wescovich Dep., at 34-35.) They "do maintenance around the yard or on the boats." (Collier Dep., at 41.) Overall, plaintiffs do "[p]retty much a little bit of everything" at the pilot station while waiting to be called to captain the boats. (Smith Dep., at 32.)¹² At least one plaintiff testified that launch operators perform such projects as "[m]aintenance on the house, maintenance on the grounds ... continuously on a daily basis." (Godard Dep., at 139.)

On occasion launch operators perform landscaping tasks such as planting trees, spreading grass seed, and watering grass....