Johnson v. Derhaag Motor Sports, Inc.
| Decision Date | 10 November 2014 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 13-cv-2311 (SRN/FLN) |
| Parties | Robert Johnson, Plaintiff, v. Derhaag Motor Sports, Inc. and James E. Derhaag, Individually, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota |
Eric D. Satre and Jarvis C. Jones, Jones Satre & Weimer PLLC, 7900 Xerxes Ave South, Suite 820, Bloomington, MN 55431, for Plaintiff.
Patrick V. Johnson and Emily J. Streier, Speeter & Johnson, 120 South 6th Street, Suite 1515, Minneapolis, MN 55402, for Defendants.
This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 41]. For the reasons that follow, Plaintiff's Motion is granted in part and denied in part.
On August 23, 2013, Plaintiff Robert Johnson ("Plaintiff" or "Johnson") filed this action against Derhaag Motor Sports, Inc. and James Edward1 Derhaag (collectively"Defendants") to recover for alleged unpaid off-the-clock and overtime work-related activities pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. (Compl. ¶ 1 [Doc. No. 1].)
Defendant Derhaag Motor Sports "builds and maintains race cars at its shop in Shakopee[, Minnesota]." (Id. ¶ 12.) The company also rents out its race cars to drivers who compete in racing events across the country. (Derhaag Dep. 14:18-19, Mar. 28, 2014 [Doc. No. 48-1].) These events are hosted by racing clubs, such as TRANS-AM, HSR, and SCCA GT1. (Compl. ¶ 11 [Doc. No. 1].) Although the racing team members, who assist the drivers, are employed by Derhaag Motor Sports (Compl. ¶ 11 [Doc. No. 1]), the drivers are "customer[s]" of the business who rent out race cars (Derhaag Dep. 14:18-19, Mar. 28, 2014 [Doc. No. 45-4]). Simon Gregg is one of Defendants' primary race car driving customers. (Id. at 70.) In fact, Gregg is responsible for producing one to two million dollars of Derhaag Motor Sports' annual revenue. (Id.)
Defendant James E. Derhaag is the owner and Chief Executive Officer of Derhaag Motor Sports. (Compl. ¶ 13 [Doc. No. 1]; Derhaag Dep. 9:22-24 [Doc. 48-1].) "Defendant Derhaag was Plaintiff's manager and was responsible for implementing, managing, scheduling, and enforcing Defendant Motor Sports' [...] employee policies and practices[,] and for directly requiring Plaintiff to [allegedly] perform uncompensated off-the-clock work and overtime." (Id. ¶ 15.)
Robert Johnson worked for Defendants on two separate occasions. He was first employed by Defendants from June 1997, until October 2000. (Johnson Dep. 12-13, Mar. 21, 2014 [Doc. No. 48-3].) During that period of time, Johnson was a salaried employee making $750 a week. (Id. at 13.) Johnson contends that he was hired in 1997 as a "car chief." (Id. at 12-13.) However, Derhaag explains that Johnson was hired as a "crew person." (Derhaag Dep. 91:12-19 [Doc. No. 48-1].)
Regardless of Plaintiff's job title during this period of employment, Johnson's responsibilities consisted of building the car, putting it in the truck, maintaining it at the racetrack, and re-building the car after each race. (Id. at 91:7-10.) Although Derhaag could not recall Johnson's exact tasks during this period of employment, Derhaag stated that Plaintiff likely would have had to perform mechanical work such as changing engines, rebuilding transmissions, changing rear ends, putting wheels and tires on, putting gas in the car, and "whatever [else] it [took] to make the race car run." (Id. at 59:9-13, 60:6-8.)
Johnson's second period of employment with Defendants was from November 2010, until June 2013. (Johnson Dep. 77:6-7 [Doc. No. 48-3].) This is the period of employment that is at issue in this case. During this time period Defendants classified Johnson as a salaried exempt employee, as opposed to an hourly employee, under the FLSA. (Compl. ¶ 3 [Doc. No. 1].) Plaintiff was Defendants' sole employee who was an"exempt" non-hourly employee. (Derhaag Dep. 35-36, 39-40 [Doc. No. 48-1].) In June 2013, Derhaag terminated Plaintiff claiming he engaged in direct insubordination. (Id. at 161:17-18.)
The parties disagree about the job title Johnson held and the duties for which he was responsible from 2010 to 2013. As to Plaintiff's job title, Defendants contend that Johnson was hired as a "crew person" and was later promoted to "crew chief." (Id. at 28:6-11.) When Derhaag changed Johnson's title to "crew chief," he also classified Plaintiff as an exempt employee under the FLSA. (Id. at 83:17-18.) Derhaag explained that Johnson was classified as exempt as crew chief because he thought that "[a]n exempt employee is someone in a management position that's not an hourly employee."2 (Id. at 30:22-24.) Johnson's position was listed as "crew chief" in at least three distinct locations. First, Plaintiff was listed as "crew chief" on the Derhaag Motor Sports website. (Johnson Dep. 15-16 [Doc. No. 48-3].) Johnson contends that he had no input about his job title listed on the website, and no one consulted him about whether "crew chief" accurately described his position. (Id. at 83:9-21.) Johnson was also listed as "crew chief" on Simon Gregg's hero card. (Id. at 15:1-7.) "A hero card is passed out to fans or people at the racetrack who just wanted some information about the driver or the race team." (Id.) Again, Johnson contends that he had no input on what his title was on this document, nor did he have any knowledge of who drafted the document. (Id. at82:12-24.) Finally, even Plaintiff used the title "crew chief" when describing his position at Derhaag Motor Sports in his application for unemployment benefits. (Id. at 91:8-11.)
While Plaintiff admits that his job title formally changed to "crew chief" in 2011, he claims that the change was merely nominal because he did not in fact act as "crew chief." (Id. at 15:8-17, 79.) Instead, Johnson alleges that he was hired as a mechanic and remained a mechanic throughout his employment at Derhaag Motor Sports, until he was terminated. (Id. at 14:12-17.) Plaintiff's allegation is bolstered by the fact that his job title was listed as "mechanic" on several documents. First, in Johnson's application for employment with Derhaag Motor Sports in 2010, Johnson wrote that he was applying for the "mechanic" position. (Jones Aff., Ex. 5 "Application for Employment" [Doc. No. 45-5].) Additionally, on Plaintiff's resume, which was last updated while he was still working for Derhaag Motor Sports, Johnson describes his position with Derhaag as "chief mechanic and engineer." (Id. at 92-93.) During his deposition, Derhaag denied giving Johnson the job title "mechanic."(Derhaag Dep. 53:5-12 [Doc. No. 48-1].) However, in the Separation Report that Derhaag completed when he fired Johnson, Derhaag listed Johnson's position as "mechanic." (Jones Aff., Ex. 5 [Doc. No. 45-5].) Finally, since Plaintiff was fired, Defendants have sought to hire a replacement employee for the position of "crew member/mechanic." (Jones Aff., Ex. 18 [Doc. No. 50-9].)
Despite the parties' active debate about Johnson's title, "[a] job title alone is insufficient to establish the exempt status of an employee." 29 C.F.R. § 541.2. Rather, "[t]he exempt or nonexempt status of any particular employee must be determined on thebasis of whether the employee's salary and duties meet the requirements" of each specific exemption. see id.
Here, the parties also disagree about the substance of Plaintiff's duties and responsibilities. Johnson claims that his responsibilities and duties as a mechanic were identical to his duties and responsibilities when his title was changed to "crew chief." (Johnson Dep. 81:6-10 [Doc. No. 48-3].) These job duties included cleaning, maintaining, and inspecting the race cars, replacing broken worn-out parts, and installing engines in order to "keep the car on all four wheels and going down the road." (Id. at 33:3-7, 78:1-10.) Both parties agree that Plaintiff was responsible for completing detailed maintenance preparation checklists while working on Defendants' race cars. (See Jones Aff., Ex. 4 [Doc. No. 45-5]; Derhaag Dep. 140-52 [Doc. No. 48-1].)
Derhaag contends that Plaintiff's responsibilities were much more expansive. He explains that Johnson had four main duties, including: (1) completing mechanical work; (2) managing Simon Gregg; (3) managing other employees in the racing shop and running the business when Derhaag was out of the country; and (4) helping to hire employees. The mechanical work that Derhaag recalls Johnson completed involved calling to arrange painting work for the cars, managing an inventory of the supplies and parts necessary for the race cars, recording mileage, lap times, and data from weekend events or races, and purchasing inexpensive car parts without authorization from Derhaag. (Derhaag Dep. 23:22-25, 24:1-2, 27:3-11, 27:17-23, 203:15-19 [Doc. No. 48-1].)
While Derhaag concedes that Johnson completed mechanical work during his 2010-2013 tenure as an employee, he argues that Johnson was not solely a mechanic. For example, Derhaag contends that Johnson coached and personally managed driver Simon Gregg. (Id. at 201:17-22.) According to Derhaag, managing Gregg involved interfacing with him, talking him into sitting in the race car because Gregg is claustrophobic,3 taking care of Gregg's laundry and cleaning his racing underwear, and generally "babysit[ting] and manag[ing] all aspects of Mr. Gregg." (Id. at 66-67.) Derhaag described Johnson as "Simon's valet," taking care of all of Gregg's wants and needs. (Id. at 69:10-14.) Defendants claim that Plaintiff also attended the crew chief meetings on behalf of Derhaag Motor Sports when Gregg raced. (Defs.' Resp. at 4-5 [Doc. No. 47].) Additionally, Defendants explain that Johnson was responsible for driving and coordinating logistics with Gregg's coach motor...
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