Justice v. Ga. Dep't of Pub. Safety

• Docket Number: A23A0160
• Decision Date: 30 June 2023
• Parties: JUSTICE v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

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JUSTICE v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY.

No. A23A0160

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Third Division

June 30, 2023

DOYLE P. J. GOBEIL, J., and SENIOR APPELLATE JUDGE PHIPPS

SAFETY. DOYLE, PRESIDING JUDGE.

This appeal arises from the trial court's dismissal on the basis of sovereign immunity of Richard Andrew Justice's claim for breach of contract against the Georgia Department of Public Safety ("DPS"), which claim was predicated on the failure of DPS to pay him overtime under incorporated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 21 USC § 201 et seq. Justice appeals the dismissal, arguing that the trial court erred by finding that certain documents exchanged by the parties did not constitute a written contract to establish that DPS had waived sovereign immunity. We reverse, for the reasons that follow.

"We review de novo a trial court's grant of a motion to dismiss on sovereign immunity grounds. However, factual findings by the trial court . . . are sustained if there is evidence authorizing them, and the burden of proof is on the party seeking the waiver of immunity."^[1]

The amended complaint alleged that Justice and 400 similarly situated plaintiffs who had been hired as state troopers with the Georgia State Patrol ("GSP")^[2]and who were required to attend GSP trooper school had been underpaid approximately $4,782,848 in wages for overtime hours worked during trooper school pursuant to written contracts incorporating overtime provisions of the FLSA between 2014-2020. The complaint alleged that DPS had agreed in a written contract with Justice to comply with the FLSA regarding overtime pay worked by Justice.

DPS answered and moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the State had not waived sovereign immunity as to the claim. Justice responded to the motion to dismiss, arguing that the offer of employment, his acceptance thereof, and certain contemporaneously executed documents including the FLSA notifications provided by DPS constituted a written contract such that the trial court should find that the State had waived sovereign immunity for the purposes of his claim.

After limited discovery was allowed by the trial court, Justice filed a motion for summary judgment and associated documents that he claimed constituted a written contract between himself and DPS. First is a copy of a December 12, 2018 email from Diana Stephens, the Human Resources Employment Manager for DPS that stated, "Please see the attached PDF File for your final offer of employment for the Trooper position in the 106th Trooper school. Please email me back as receipt and confirmation of your acceptance of this final offer." Justice also filed a copy of the letter that was attached to the Stephens email signed on behalf of DPS by Kate Mayer, Director of Human Resources, which read:

Congratulations! This letter serves as a final offer of employment as a Trooper Cadet[] and is your invitation to participate in the . . . GSP-[]) 106th Trooper School effective January 6, 2019. Your salary will be $36,110[] annually.

You will receive follow up information within the next few weeks regarding report time and new hire information.

Again, you are congratulated for being selected to begin the final phase of becoming a [GSP] Trooper. Your successful completion of all the requirements of the Cadet Training Program is essential to continuing in Trooper School and ultimately graduating as a [GSP] Trooper. This offer is contingent upon POST approval of your law enforcement application.

As a reminder, you will be given a PT test on the beginning date of the GSP 106th Trooper School. Your failure to pass this PT test will result in your immediate dismissal from the GSP 106th Trooper School.

If you have questions regarding this correspondence, please call Diana Stephens at [redacted]. I thank you for your continued interest in employment with the Georgia [DPS] and wish you well as you begin Trooper School.^[3]

Also attached was a copy of an email from Justice's email address responding to Stephens's email from the afternoon of December 12, 2018, which stated, "I accept this offer. Thanks so much[,]" and response from Stephens stating, "Thank you and good luck with all, Diana."

Justice averred that on December 16, 2018, he signed additional documents provided to him by DPS, including (1) DPS's Policy Acknowledgment Form, which acknowledged receipt and understanding of Policy Number 5.13 overtime hours; (2) DPS's Understanding Use of FLSA Compensatory Time (Sworn) form, stating that

I, Richard Justice, do hereby acknowledge that as part of the terms and conditions of my employment with [DPS] (hereinafter referred to as my employer), I understand that I may be required to work more than one hundred seventy one (171) hours in a 28 day work period. I further understand that, in lieu of overtime compensation, I will receive compensatory time off at the rate of one and one-half hours for each hour of employment for which the [FLSA] requires overtime compensation;

and DPS's Understanding Use of FLSA Compensatory Time (Non-Sworn) form, stating that

I, Richard Justice, do hereby acknowledge that as part of the terms and conditions of my employment with [DPS] . . ., I understand that I may be required to work more than forty (40) hours in a work week. I further understand that, in lieu of overtime compensation, I will receive compensatory time off at the rate of one and one-half hours for each hour of employment for which the [FLSA] requires overtime compensation.

In his complaint, Justice maintained that he was a "non-sworn" employee during trooper school, which is the time during which he claimed that DPS failed to compensate him according to the terms agreed in the FLSA compensatory time acknowledgment.

Following a hearing on the motion to dismiss,^[4] the trial court issued an order prepared by the State, which found that the documents at issue did not constitute a written contract, and therefore, DPS and the State had not waived sovereign immunity as to Justice's claim.

In his single enumeration of error, Justice argues that the trial court erred by finding that the documents as listed above do not constitute a written contract for purposes of waiving sovereign immunity. We agree.

1. FLSA background.

The FLSA

was enacted for the purpose of protecting workers from substandard wages and oppressive working hours. Recognizing that there are often great inequalities in bargaining power between employers and employees, Congress made the FLSA's provisions mandatory; thus, the provisions are not subject to negotiation or bargaining between employers and employees. FLSA rights cannot be abridged by contract or otherwise waived because this would nullify the purposes of the statute and thwart the legislative policies it was designed to effectuate.

There are only two ways in which back wage claims arising under the FLSA can be settled or compromised by employees. First, under section 216(c), the Secretary of Labor is authorized to supervise payment to employees of unpaid wages owed to them. An employee who accepts such a payment supervised by the Secretary thereby waives his right to bring suit for both the unpaid wages and for liquidated damages, provided the employer pays in full the back wages.

The only other route for compromise of FLSA claims is provided in the context of suits brought directly by employees against their employer under section 216(b) to recover back wages for FLSA violations. When employees bring a private action for back wages under the FLSA, and present to the district court a proposed settlement, the district court may enter a stipulated judgment after scrutinizing the settlement for fairness.^[5]

For state employees, a state and its agencies enjoy immunity from suit, and specifically, the United States Supreme Court has explained that private rights of action under the FLSA are not available for this class of employees unless their state has consented to such private suits.^[6] The parties have cited no law establishing that Georgia is among the states that have consented to private suits by state employees against state employers for alleged FLSA violations.

2. Ex-contractu waiver of sovereign immunity.

Despite the fact that private citizens are precluded from bringing private FLSA claims against state actors, Georgia has waived sovereign immunity "as to any action ex contractu for the breach of any written contract . . . entered into by the [S]tate or its departments and agencies."^[7] We agree that if Justice establishes that he has a written contract with DPS incorporating overtime provisions of the FLSA into his terms of employment, he can pursue such a claim. The State is free to contract, and such a contract would not constitute a "blanket waiver of sovereign immunity for FLSA claims" as DPS argues, rather, it would simply be a separate avenue available for the plaintiff.^[8]

3. Existence of a written contract.

Justice argues that the December 12 emails between him and DPS leading to his hire combined with the additional employment documents he signed on December 16, constitute a written contract or contracts such that the State has waived sovereign immunity as to his claim of breach of contract for overtime pay consistent with the FLSA while he was at trooper school.

"A valid written contract may be formed when there are multiple signed, contemporaneous agreements between the parties which demonstrate their intent to enter into a binding contract and the individual documents, considered together, include all of the necessary terms of a contract."^[9] (a) DPS contends that because Justice was an at-will employee, he could not have an employment contract, and therefore no waiver of...