Hesseltine v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

• Decision Date: 23 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. Civ.A. 1:03-CV-865.,Civ.A. 1:03-CV-865.
• Citation: 391 F.Supp.2d 509
• Parties: Donald HESSELTINE, Charles Dwayne Parrish, David Day, Dennis May, William Wilkins, Jimmy Carter, Donald Wade, Bruce Hamilton, Chester Trusty, Charles Leatherwood, Michael Paul Frederick, Luis Gurrero, Rodney Goff, Joseph Charles, Benjamin Burnes, Ricky Brown, Thomas Chapman, Stephen Withers, Stephen Morse, Clyde Wells, Troy Selman, Isaac Jefferson, MacLyn Owens, Charles Hanna, Austin Pool, Larry Fitts, Henry Copeland, Tom Van Jones, Billy Allen, Richard Andrepont, George Dewberry, Plaintiffs, v. THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Texas

Page 509

391 F.Supp.2d 509

Donald HESSELTINE, Charles Dwayne Parrish, David Day, Dennis May, William Wilkins, Jimmy Carter, Donald Wade, Bruce Hamilton, Chester Trusty, Charles Leatherwood, Michael Paul Frederick, Luis Gurrero, Rodney Goff, Joseph Charles, Benjamin Burnes, Ricky Brown, Thomas Chapman, Stephen Withers, Stephen Morse, Clyde Wells, Troy Selman, Isaac Jefferson, MacLyn Owens, Charles Hanna, Austin Pool, Larry Fitts, Henry Copeland, Tom Van Jones, Billy Allen, Richard Andrepont, George Dewberry, Plaintiffs, v. THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY, Defendant.

No. Civ.A. 1:03-CV-865.

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

August 23, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Michael Andrew Josephson, Fibich, Hampton, Leebron & Garth, Houston, TX, for Plaintiffs.

Teresa S. Valderrama, Baker, Botts LLP, Houston, TX, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CRONE, District Judge.

Pending before the court is Defendant The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's ("Goodyear") Motion for Summary Judgment (# 97). Goodyear seeks summary judgment on Plaintiffs Donald Hesseltine ("Hesseltine"), Charles Dwayne Parrish ("Parrish"), and David Day's ("Day") (collectively "Plaintiffs") claims alleging unpaid overtime compensation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 206, 207, 216(b) (2000). Having reviewed the pending motion, the submissions of the parties, the pleadings, and the applicable law, the court is of the opinion that summary judgment is warranted.

I. Background

Goodyear owns and operates a chemical plant located in Beaumont, Texas. Plaintiffs are all current or former employees of the facility. Hesseltine held a variety of positions during his thirty-nine-year tenure at the plant and was a senior operator before he retired on February 1, 2003. Day also performed a number of jobs during his thirty-one-year term of employment at the facility, and immediately prior to his retirement in February 2003, he was a senior operator. Parrish has worked at the plant for approximately twenty-six years in several different capacities and currently is employed as a process operator.

Goodyear utilizes four, twelve-hour shifts (A, B, C, and D) to run its production units at the plant. The shift schedules for Goodyear's four, twelve-hour rotations are set and distributed before the calendar year begins. After receiving their schedule for the entire year, employees know which days and nights they will work, which shifts they will relieve, and which shifts will relieve them. The schedule operates on a twenty-eight day cycle, and employees on the twelve-hour shift rotation have as many days off as days worked. Twelve-hour shift employees work alternating thirty-six hour and forty-eight hour weeks. Additionally, employees may be called in to relieve absent members on other shifts.

Goodyear's twelve-hour shift employees are required to make person-to-person shift relief at their respective work stations. According to Goodyear's pay policy, person-to-person shift relief for its twelve-hour associates is mandatory. The policy states, "Shift relief will be made within a half hour window prior to regular start time (e.g. between 4:30 and 5:00). This will assure continuity at shift change, facilitate scheduling of meetings and assure associates are paid in line with hours worked." Hill Mayfield ("Mayfield"), Goodyear's former, lead, human resource manager at the facility, testified that the purpose of person-to-person shift relief is to provide an employee beginning his shift with information concerning the activities of the previous shift, to ensure the safe operation of the plant, and to guarantee that each unit at the plant operates around the clock. Despite Goodyear's scheduled shift start time, many of the twelve-hour associates make private arrangements to relieve each other early. Under these agreements, each employee works a twelve-hour shift but is relieved earlier than Goodyear's scheduled time. Notwithstanding the employee-instituted early or late shift-relief arrangement, if an employee's relief does not make shift relief on time, the employee on duty must remain at his station until relief arrives or he is relieved by management.

Goodyear's twelve-hour shift employees do not punch a time clock. Rather, they are on an honor system to report to work on time and to self-report variations in their hours worked to each unit's Administrative Star Point. Goodyear utilizes the Administrative Star Point System to record exceptions to employees' regular twelve-hour shifts. A coach, or front-line supervisor, verifies the hours each employee works. Goodyear pays twelve-hour shift associates straight time for the first eight hours of work and overtime for the next four hours worked. Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the regular rate for hours worked in excess of eight per day, 1.71 times the regular rate for hours worked in excess of twelve per day, 2.5 times the regular rate for holidays worked, and 2.28 times the regular rate for the seventh day worked in any workweek. Associates are also paid for meal periods and rest breaks taken throughout the workday.

In this action, Plaintiffs claim entitlement to additional overtime compensation under the FLSA. They assert that Goodyear's policy requiring person-to-person shift relief results in an overlap between two shifts, causing employees to work beyond their twelve-hour shifts without overtime compensation. Further, Plaintiffs allege that they were "regularly required to work off the clock after their shifts were completed if the next shift or the relief employee did not arrive on time, was in a meeting or was reassigned to a different shift or department without notice to the applicable shift supervisor." Plaintiffs seek damages for unpaid back wages and benefits, liquidated damages equal in amount to unpaid compensation, court costs, attorneys' fees, and prejudgment and post-judgment interest.

On September 16, 2003, Hesseltine and Lloyd Martin ("Martin") filed their original complaint in this court as a putative collective action, alleging that they "did not properly receive overtime compensation or benefits for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week" and seeking "to recover unpaid overtime wages brought under the [FLSA]." Martin dismissed his claims voluntarily and withdrew from the case on May 18, 2004. On August 17, 2004, the court conditionally certified this case as a collective action and permitted the issuance of notice to other potential plaintiffs. When the opt-in period closed, thirty-six individuals had joined the collective action. On April 27, 2005, Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed several opt-in claimants because their claims were barred by the statute of limitations. The next day, Plaintiffs filed their second amended complaint, which effectively converted their lawsuit from a collective action into a number of individual claims. On June 8, 2005, Goodyear filed the instant motion seeking summary judgment on the claims asserted by Hesseltine, Day, and Parrish, deferring resolution of the claims of the remaining twenty-eight plaintiffs to a later date.

II. Analysis

A. Summary Judgment

Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment " shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c). The party seeking summary judgment bears the initial burden of informing the court of the basis for its motion and identifying those portions of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions on file, and affidavits, if any, which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Lincoln Gen. Ins. Co. v. Reyna, 401 F.3d 347, 349 (5th Cir.2005); Martinez v. Schlumberger, Ltd., 338 F.3d 407, 411 (5th Cir.2003); Terrebonne Parish Sch. Bd. v. Mobil Oil Corp., 310 F.3d 870, 877 (5th Cir.2002). Where a defendant moves for summary judgment on the basis of an affirmative defense and, thus, bears the ultimate burden of persuasion, "it must adduce evidence to support each element of its defenses and demonstrate the lack of any genuine issue of material fact with regard thereto." Rushing v. Kansas City S. Ry. Co., 185 F.3d 496, 505 (5th Cir.1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1160, 120 S.Ct. 1171, 145 L.Ed.2d 1080 (2000) (citing Exxon Corp. v. Oxxford Clothes, Inc., 109 F.3d 1070, 1074 (5th Cir.), cert, denied, 522 U.S. 915, 118 S.Ct. 299, 139 L.Ed.2d 231 (1997)); see Fontenot v. Upjohn Co., 780 F.2d 1190, 1194 (5th Cir.1986). To warrant judgment in its favor, the movant "`"must establish beyond peradventure all of the essential elements of the defense."'" Martin v. Alamo Cmty. Coll. Dist., 353 F.3d 409, 412 (5th Cir.2003) (emphasis in original) (quoting Chaplin v. NationsCredit Corp., 307 F.3d 368, 372 (5th Cir.2002) (quoting Fontenot, 780 F.2d at 1194)).

"A fact is `material' if it `might affect the outcome of the suit under governing law.'" Bazan v. Hidalgo County, 246 F.3d 481, 489 (5th Cir.2001) (emphasis in original) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505); see Harken Exploration Co. v. Sphere Drake Ins. PLC, 261 F.3d 466, 471 (5th Cir.2001); Merritt-Campbell, Inc. v. RxP Prods., Inc., 164 F.3d 957, 961 (5th Cir.1999); Burgos v. Southwestern Bell Tel. Co., 20 F.3d 633, 635 (5th Cir.1994). "An issue is `genuine' if it is real and substantial, as opposed to merely formal, pretended, or a sham." Bazan, 246 F.3d at 489 (emphasis in original). Thus, a genuine issue of material fact exists "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury...