Luder v. Endicott

Citation86 F.Supp.2d 854
Decision Date14 February 2000
Docket NumberNo. 99-C-694-C.,99-C-694-C.
PartiesRoger LUDER, Garth Anacker, James Armson, William Arvidson, Kathy Ayers, Raymond Bandeko, Jr., Bryon Bass, Victoria Bass, Daniel Bavinck, Randall Becker, John Bell, Leonard Below, Raymond Berglund, Keith Bloss, Trevor Boardman, Mary Bobiak, Brian Bonovetz, Kenneth Bortz, Jr., Anthony Brauner, Roger Brickner, Christine Brooks, Patrick Burroughs, Todd Calkins, Judy Cimaroli Douglas Crary, Richard Dahnert, Judith Delfrate, Curtis Delong, Roberta Devries, Dana Dittberner, Daniel Dittberner, Donald Dittberner, David Dolajeck, Richard Dolajeck, Raymond Doucette, Scott Droste, Richard Dykstra, Richard Ellet, David Ewing, Timothy Fredette, Gary Fulmer, Gary Gove, Russell Graack, William Graham, William Greene, Dennis D. Hazel, Richard Helley, Donald Hendrickson, Timothy Higbee, Linda Hinickle, Matthew Hinze, Linda Hodgkins, Jeffery Hoffman, Mark Holden, John Holton, Mark Isaacson, Timothy Jackson, David James, Dale Jarvi, Dennis Johnson, Mark Johnson, Charles Jones, Patricia Jones, Charles Kalina, Stephen Kaminski, Ronald Kast, Wesley Katsma, Anthony Kavcich, Dennis Kerl, John Kind, Neil Knapton, Jody Kolano, Rodney Lablanc, Terry Leege, David Lehman, Robert Lettman, David Lipinski, Carol Luetkens, James Luetkens, Charles Lulling, Stan Maday, Brian Martin, Robert Mawbey, Patrick May, Dennis Mays, Jr., William Meiller, Sherry Mikulak, Raymond Millonig, Jr., Robert Morrin, Teresa Mueller, Robert Munro, Lester Neuman, Christopher Olson, Jon Patzlsberger, Dale Paul, Deborah Pero, Christian Petersen, Lee Pillsbury, Blaine Ponkow, Ross Pope, Patrick Pulley, Alan Pulver, Melvin Pulver, Dylon Radtke, Alan Rhode, Kelly Rickey, Michael Rickey, John Rought, Kally Ryan, Roy Salzwedel, Christopher Saviano, John Sawyer, Jr., Harold Schmidt, Raye Schneller, David Schubring, Steven Severson, John Shimpach, Jennifer Sickinger, Michael Slaney, James Slovik, Frank Smiley, Jr., Richard Solis, Randy Sprangers, Wayne Steiner, James Stone, Ron Swenson, Brian T. Synnott, Daniel Tetzlaff, Ronald Tetzlaff, Terry Tetzlaff, John Thalacker, Maury Thill, Rory Thomas, Victor Trimble, Kelly Turner, Peter Walker, Susan Wall, Todd Wanta, David Warnke, Christina Wech, Daniel Wech, Richard Wech, John Whyte, Peter Wigglesworth, David Yatalese, Plaintiffs, v. Jeffrey P. ENDICOTT, Kim E. Kannenberg, Frances M. Paul, Bruce J. Schneider, Individually and in their official capacities, Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin

Lester Pines, Madison, WI, for plaintiff.

Richard Moriarty, Assistant Attorney General, State of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, for defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

CRABB, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, employees of the state of Wisconsin, filed this complaint in Dane County Circuit Court, contending that defendants violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219, by requiring plaintiffs to perform essential job duties without compensation before and after their work shifts. Plaintiffs seek declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief. Defendants removed the case to this court on November 1, 1999. Defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that only monetary relief is available to plaintiffs under the Fair Labor Standards Act, that Wisconsin and its agencies are immune from suit under the Fair Labor Standards Act and that defendants in their individual capacities are not proper defendants under the act.

This case raises important issues of sovereign immunity and the extent to which individual state employees may be liable personally for actions they take in violation of federal law. It is before the court on procedural issues only; defendants have not moved to dismiss the complaint on the merits. I conclude that the question of employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act must be decided first, before the question of immunity, and that defendants qualify as employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act in both their individual and official capacities. I also conclude that injunctive relief is not available to plaintiffs under the act and that, as a consequence, plaintiffs' claims against defendants in their official capacities are barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Finally, I conclude that the individual capacity claims are not barred by the Eleventh Amendment and that plaintiffs may pursue monetary relief against defendants personally.

For the sole purpose of deciding this motion, I find as fact the following allegations of the complaint.

ALLEGATIONS OF FACT

At all relevant times, each plaintiff was an hourly employee of the state of Wisconsin, working at Columbia Correctional Institution, a Wisconsin penitentiary. Defendants, too, are employees who worked at Columbia Correctional Institution at relevant times: defendant Jeffrey P. Endicott as warden, defendant Frances M. Paul as deputy warden, defendant Bruce J. Schneider as institutional human resources director-personnel manager and defendant Kim E. Kannenberg as institutional human resources director. Defendants controlled and directed the terms and conditions of plaintiffs' employment at Columbia Correctional Institution, including hiring, firing, disciplining, timekeeping, recordkeeping, job duties and their execution, pay, overtime and work hours.

For at least three years before the filing of this action and continuing to the present, defendants have required plaintiffs to perform essential job duties without compensation before the start of their shifts or after their shifts should have ended. Because of this, plaintiffs have not been compensated for all of the hours they have worked, including overtime hours. The essential job duties defendants have required plaintiffs to perform while "not on the clock" include reporting to shift supervisors and listening to oral presentation of shift briefs and roll call announcements from supervisors, which are made before the start of the shift; reading the written shift brief prior to the start of the shift; checking, inventorying and caring for essential equipment such as guns, keys, handcuffs and other restraints before or following the shift; communicating with the prior shift staff member or the next shift staff member to provide information essential to the health and safety of inmates, staff members and the citizens of the state; lengthy travel from central control to and from the assigned post; waiting to be relieved of their posts by the following shift staff; collecting and reviewing work-related written communications; and other "make-ready," pre- and post-shift work.

Defendants, or personnel acting at defendants' direction, have knowingly and willfully altered the time sheets of various plaintiffs by crossing out the actual start and end times reported by the employee and writing in the shift start and end times. Defendants have knowingly and willfully allowed plaintiffs to work without compensation. Defendants' actions have resulted in the state of Wisconsin's failure to pay plaintiffs all of the straight time and overtime compensation due them.

Defendants acted in both their official and individual capacities. When acting in their official capacities, defendants acted in a supervisory or decision making capacity with the power or authority of agents of the state to control and direct the terms or conditions of plaintiffs' employment. Defendants Endicott, Paul and Kannenberg continue to require plaintiffs to perform essential job duties while not on the clock and continue to alter or direct the alteration of plaintiffs' time sheets. (Defendant Schneider is no longer at Columbia Correctional Institution.)

OPINION
I. TYPES OF RELIEF AVAILABLE TO PLAINTIFFS

The parties agree that back wages and liquidated damages are remedies available to plaintiffs should they prove both that defendants are not immune from suit as state employees and that they violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. The parties disagree whether prospective injunctive relief is an available remedy. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has not yet addressed the issue. See Avitia v. Metropolitan Club of Chicago, Inc., 924 F.2d 689, 691-92 (7th Cir.1991) (noting in a footnote that "the statutory question at issue is a significant one, and not without sensible arguments on both sides").

29 U.S.C. § 217 provides that district courts have jurisdiction to issue injunctions restraining violations of the act. However, § 217 is limited by 29 U.S.C. § 211(a) which states: "Except as provided in section 212 of this title [dealing with child labor], the Administrator shall bring all actions under section 217 of this title to restrain violations of this chapter." In an opinion that is persuasive although not binding on this court, the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois noted recently that "every Circuit that has addressed the issue over a period spanning more than a half century has agreed that the plain language of [the Fair Labor Standards] Act §§ 211(a) and 217 allows only the Secretary of Labor to bring an action for injunctive relief under the act." Bjornson v. Daido Metal U.S.A., Inc., 12 F.Supp.2d 837, 843 (N.D.Ill.1998) (citing Powell v. State of Florida, 132 F.3d 677, 678-79 (11th Cir.1998); Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight Sys., Inc., 750 F.2d 47, 51 (8th Cir.1984); EEOC v. Gilbarco, Inc., 615 F.2d 985, 995 (4th Cir.1980); Morelock v. NCR Corp., 546 F.2d 682, 688 (6th Cir.1976), rev'd on other grounds, 435 U.S. 911, 98 S.Ct. 1463, 55 L.Ed.2d 503 (1978); Powell v. Washington Post Co., 267 F.2d 651, 652 (D.C.Cir.1959); Roberg v. Henry Phipps Estate, 156 F.2d 958, 963 (2d Cir.1946); Bowe v. Judson C. Burns, Inc., 137 F.2d 37, 39 (3d Cir.1943)). In Bjornson, the court acknowledged the Seventh Circuit's dictum in Avitia but concluded that the overwhelming line of authority indicated that private parties were limited to back wages and liquidated damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act. See Bjornson, 12 F.Supp.2d at 843.

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3 cases
  • Morrow v. Putnam
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Nevada
    • 12 Junio 2001
    ...it could have easily so stated, as it had done for officers and agents of labor organizations in the FLSA. See Luder v. Endicott, 86 F.Supp.2d 854, 861 (W.D.Wis. 2000). This reasoning is especially true considering that Congress had no need to explicitly exempt officers and agents of labor ......
  • Keene v. Rinaldi
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina
    • 27 Octubre 2000
    ...have been for mere drafting convenience at the time public agencies were added to and engrafted into the FLSA. See Luder v. Endicott, 86 F.Supp.2d 854, 859-60 (W.D.Wis.2000). (In 1974, Congress did not consider the effect of including public agency in 29 U.S.C. § 203(d)'s definition which c......
  • Mosley v. Douglas County Correctional Center, 8:99CV78 (D. Neb. 2000)
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Nebraska
    • 1 Mayo 2000
    ...the FMLA. Likewise, I find that a state actor can be sued in his individual capacity just as a private actor. See Luder v. Endicott, 86 F. Supp.2d 854, 860 (W.D. Wis. 2000) (correctional officials qualified as employers in their individual capacities); Baker v. Stone County, 41 F. Supp.2d 9......
1 books & journal articles
  • U.S. district court FISA-fair labor standards act working conditions.
    • United States
    • Corrections Caselaw Quarterly No. 2001, February 2001
    • 1 Agosto 2001
    ...v. Endicott, 86 F.Supp.2d 854 (W.D.Wis. 2000). State employees brought an action against Wisconsin correctional officials alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The district court held that correctional officials qualified as "employers" in both their individual and off......

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