Harrison v. Tyler Techs., Inc.

• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 4:21-CV-607
• Decision Date: 02 November 2022
• Citation: 638 F.Supp.3d 694
• Parties: Talia N. HARRISON, Plaintiff, v. TYLER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Texas

638 F.Supp.3d 694

Talia N. HARRISON, Plaintiff, v. TYLER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Defendant.

Civil Action No. 4:21-CV-607

United States District Court, E.D. Texas, Sherman Division

Signed November 2, 2022

Charles R. Bridgers, Matthew W. Herrington, DeLong Caldwell Bridgers Fitzpatrick & Benjamin, Atlanta, GA, Melinda Arbuckle, Wage and Hour Firm, Dallas, TX, for Plaintiff.

Paulo B. McKeeby, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Dallas, TX, Amanda E. Brown, Hallett & Perrin PC, Dallas, TX, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

AMOS L. MAZZANT, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Pending before the Court is DefendantTyler Technologies, Inc.'s Motion for Summary Judgment(Dkt. #14).Having considered the motion and the relevant pleadings, the Court finds that the motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

BACKGROUND

This case arises out of an employer-employee relationship whereby PlaintiffTalia N. Harrison("Harrison") alleges that her former employer, DefendantTyler Technologies, Inc.("Tyler"), did not compensate her with overtime pay, which is legally required under the Fair Labor Standards Act("FLSA") when she worked more than forty (40) hours a week.29 U.S.C. § 207(a).Tyler alleges that both of Harrison's positions while working at Tyler, Senior Project Manager and Implementation Analyst, were exempt from receiving overtime pay.29 U.S.C. § 213.

Tyler is a technology service provider that works exclusively with the public sector.One of the services that Tyler currently provides is the implementation of the software ExecuTime.ExecuTime is a time-keeping software that tracks employees' attendance and hours worked, then exports that information to payroll vendors to ensure each employee is properly compensated for his or her time.In June 2016, Tyler bought out the company ExecuTime and acquired all its employees, including Harrison (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 4).Before the buy-out, Harrison worked as a Project Manager/Trainer and Implementation Manager for ExecuTime (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 4;Dkt. #14, Exhibit 2¶ 3).When Harrison was offered the Project Manager/Trainer position by ExecuTime in 2013, she was given a letter that informed her that her position was exempt from receiving overtime pay under the FLSA (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 4).After the buy-out, Tyler broke the Project Manager/Trainer role into two different positions: Project Manager and Implementation Consultant (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 71).

When a client wishes to acquire the ExecuTime software from Tyler, the purchase includes installation, implementation, and post-implementation support (Dkt. #29, Exhibit 4at p. 4).These services require that each client be assigned a team, which usually includes both a Project Manager and an Implementation Consultant (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 2¶ 4).The implementation process begins with a kickoff call where the client and the implementation team communicate regarding the client's preferences and existing time-keeping system (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 10).After the kickoff call, an implementation timeline is created along with a solution design that is curated for the client (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 8).These timelines can last several months, ultimately resulting in a "go live" date where the client officially transitions to using the ExecuTime software full-time (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 2¶ 8).

I.Senior Project Manager

Generally, Project Managers are responsible for ensuring that the implementation process stays on schedule (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 2¶ 9).This means that Project Managers must be in direct communication with the client, keep track of the number of hours worked, and respond to any "road blocks" that may arise during the implementation process (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 2¶ 12).The Project Manager is the one who reads over the initial contract to understand the nature of the client's purchase and then inputs data to create the project plan and implementation schedule based on the client's needs.These documents are created based on templates created by Tyler that can change depending on which services the client purchased (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 9).After the initial documents have been created, the day-to-day operations are supposed to be handed off to the Implementation Consultant, however, the Project Manager would still communicate with the client throughout the process.In terms of hierarchy, the Project Manager would oversee an Implementation Consultant but would report to an Implementation Manager (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at pp. 13-14).

Harrison did not conduct the work of a normal Project Manager.Because she had more experience with the ExecuTime software than many Tyler employees, she was considered a subject-matter expert on the software and given the title of Senior Project Manager by Tyler (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 2¶ 21).Although this title did not come with any additional job instructions, Harrison describes the position as the same as a Project Manager, only that Senior Project Managers "handled more projects at a time"(Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 87).Harrison was assigned to work on nineteen (19) to twenty-three (23) clients at a time, the most of any Project Manager at the company (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 42;Dkt. #14, Exhibit 2¶ 21).Additionally, because of the high turnover rates at Tyler, Harrison would also have to conduct the work of an Implementation Consultant from time to time, even though she never held that title (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 24).

Outside of the implementation process, Harrison conducted training sessions for clients as well as new Tyler employees on how to use the ExecuTime software (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at pp. 21, 38).Harrison also participated in interviewing new hires at Tyler, which included being present at the interview, ranking the interviewees, and providing feedback to a supervisor (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 49-51).Other employees, both Project Managers and Implementation Consultants, also frequently came to Harrison for help on their projects, which could take up a significant portion of her day (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 107).Although she performed all this additional work, Harrison still reported directly to an Implementation Manager and worked under a "management" team (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 86).Harrison continued as Senior Project Manager until 2019, when she then transitioned to the Implementation Analyst position (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at pp. 111-12).The Implementation Analyst position was a newly created position for the ExecuTime product that focused more time on assisting others with the ExecuTime software.Since Harrison stated that was essentially most of the work she performed as Senior Project Manager, she applied and was ultimately given the position (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 113).

II.Implementation Analyst

On November 18, 2019, Harrison became the only Implementation Analyst for the ExecuTime product (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 121).Her main responsibilities included training employees on the software and being available for any questions or issues that arose.Harrison supported the entire ExecuTime implementation team and was available to the Project Managers and Implementation Consultants, assisting them with issues that required a higher degree of knowledge or experience with the product (Dkt. #14, Exhibit3 at ¶ 4).Employees were required to fill out tickets when they needed assistance, and Harrison would address these problems one-by-one based on priority level (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 122).Harrison also conducted larger-scale trainings that sometimes required her to travel (Dkt. #14, Exhibit3 at ¶ 9).This included a management summit that took place in Austin, Texas and a new-hire training that took place in Maine.In these trainings, Harrison would go over PowerPoints that were provided to her by Tyler (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at pp. 119-20).Harrison was also tasked with creating "how to" guides for ExecuTime systems as well as other documents that Tyler employees could refer to during the implementation process (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at pp. 123-24).

While being available to other employees as necessary, the Implementation Analyst position lacked the team aspect and project work that the Senior Project Manager had.Harrison would sometimes work with clients when asked by management, but there was never any team or client that she was assigned to full-time (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 3¶ 6).Although Harrison would work fewer hours as an Implementation Analyst than as a Senior Project Manager, Harrison still worked during the weekends in this position (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 148).

While in this role, Harrison did not have the authority to manage other employees, could not hire or fire anyone, and could not set or adjust an employee's hours.Harrison reported to Kayla Wagner, who worked as a manager throughout Harrison's time as an Implementation Analyst (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 3¶ 2).While the position allowed her to delegate some implementations based on the existing workload of the Implementation Consultants, she was never anyone's official supervisor.Harrison continued to work in this position until she found a job elsewhere.On June 17, 2021, Harrison resigned from Tyler (Dkt. #14, Exhibit 1at p. 145).

III.Tyler's Previous FLSA Litigation

Tyler has dealt with FLSA overtime pay cases in the past.SeeBeall v. Tyler Techs., No. 2:08-CV-422, 2009 WL 1766141(E.D. Tex.June 23, 2009);Greene v. Tyler Techs., 526 F. Supp. 3d 1325(N.D. Ga.2021);Wright v. Tyler Techs., No. 4:20-CV-454, 2021 WL 4255287(E.D. Ark.Sept. 17, 2021);Kudatsky v. Tyler Techs., No. 3:19-CV-7647, 2021 WL 5356724(N.D. Cal.Nov. 17, 2021).In these lawsuits, Tyler was sued by former employees that made the same claim as Harrison—failure to receive overtime pay.Tyler alleged the same defense as it alleges here, that each of those employees was exempt from receiving overtime pay under the FLSA.The difference in this case is that none of the above-mentioned...