Madera Police officers Assn. v. City of Madera

• Decision Date: 09 July 1984
• Docket Number: S.F. 24665
• Citation: 204 Cal.Rptr. 422,682 P.2d 1087,36 Cal.3d 403
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 682 P.2d 1087 MADERA POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. CITY OF MADERA et al., Defendants and Respondents.

Page 422

204 Cal.Rptr. 422

36 Cal.3d 403, 682 P.2d 1087

MADERA POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. CITY OF MADERA et al., Defendants and Respondents.

S.F. 24665.

Supreme Court of California In Bank.

July 9, 1984.

Christopher D. Burdick, Carroll, Burdick & McDonough, San Francisco, for plaintiffs and appellants.

Alex E. Christiansen, Madera, for defendants and respondents.

REYNOSO, Justice.

We granted hearing to determine whether police officers, sergeants and dispatchers are entitled, as a result of the limitations placed on their mealtime periods, to payment for overtime hours worked. That entitlement depends on whether their lunch and dinner hours are considered worktime, inasmuch as the City of Madera mandates overtime pay for those police department employees who work in excess of the normal eight-hour day and forty-hour week. We conclude that the constraints placed on the activities and conduct of the concerned employees during their mealtime are so restrictive that the employees are at work and are thus entitled to overtime compensation.

1. The Trial

This is a class action by the Madera Police Officers Association and three of its members ¹ on behalf of all police officers, sergeants and dispatchers employed by the City of Madera after January 1, 1976. Plaintiffs seek payment for overtime wages due and owing, plus interest, an accounting, and declaratory relief.

The employees contend that their mealtime break is so circumscribed as to convert it into hours worked. Under the rules and regulations of the City of Madera, they argue, the work was in excess of the eight-hour day, forty-hour week established as the normal work day and work week for city employees.

Prior to the suit, in September 1979, the employees submitted a grievance to the Madera Civil Service Commission. It was denied unanimously. In December 1979, plaintiffs filed their complaint with the Superior Court for the County of Madera. In addition to arguing that they had a right to overtime under state and local law, plaintiffs sought overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 United States Code section 201 et seq. Defendants, the City of Madera, the city council, and certain city officials ² answered, denying overtime liability. ³

A nonjury trial was held before the Superior Court of Madera County. The record on appeal indicates the following. The officers and dispatchers of the Madera Police Department are scheduled for an eight and one-half hour per day shift ⁴ which includes a noncompensated meal period, commonly referred to as Code 7 time, during which the employee is permitted to eat a meal. The lead dispatcher is scheduled for a nine-hour shift and is allotted one hour of Code 7 time. The sergeants are scheduled for eight and three quarter hour shifts including forty-five minutes of noncompensable Code 7 time.

Code 7 time is restricted as follows. ⁵ The watch commander of a shift decides when the employee may begin Code 7 time. The officers, sergeants and dispatchers do not decide when to take their Code 7 period and they do not have any right to a Code 7 period at a particular time. Thus, they cannot schedule in advance and keep personal appointments during Code 7 time. The employees are on call during Code 7 time and can be interrupted or called away from their meal because of emergencies. They must leave a telephone number or address where they can be reached. If actually called into duty during Code 7 time, they must apply for overtime compensation, although it is unclear from the record if the employees were ever made aware of this possibility. If the employees remain in uniform, they cannot conduct personal business. ⁶ At trial, Police Chief Skeels explained that this restriction is imposed because of the unique appearance of police officers. He stated that because they are very much in the public eye, "certain things like buying things ... could be interpreted as being intimidative [sic ]." The officers must also respond to citizen inquiries and crimes committed in their presence. Finally, because fewer employees are at work during the swing shift (2:45 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.) and the graveyard shift (10:45 p.m. to 7:15 a.m.) the dispatchers working those shifts are not even permitted to leave the building during Code 7 time.

Officer Long testified that as a practical matter, employees cannot remove their uniforms during Code 7 time because they would be unable to adequately respond to an emergency. Officer Kunkel testified as to the difference between merely being on call and Code 7 time. While on a "24-hour-a-day call back," other than realizing that they could be required to work, the officers are under no other restrictions; they are not required to stay by a telephone in order to be available for an immediate call. In contrast, while on Code 7 time, an officer is required to follow the department's code of conduct. If the officer is eating in a restaurant or is in a public place and is interrupted by a question, complaint or request by a citizen, the officer is obligated to be polite and courteous and should take care of the citizen's problem if possible.

Sergeant MacAlpine, a watch commander, testified that if an officer refused to respond to a citizen's request during Code 7 time on the ground that he was off duty, that situation would be investigated as involving potential misconduct and the police captain would be informed of the incident. The sergeant also testified that if an officer was unavailable when an emergency arose because he or she could not be reached at the phone number or address given to the department, a written report for possible disciplinary action would be prepared. Thus, it appears that these duties must be performed during Code 7 time under the threat of potential disciplinary action.

The trial court found that plaintiffs worked eight-hour shifts per day with a one-half hour mealtime break. The court denied plaintiffs' claims, concluding that the restrictions imposed on the officers, sergeants and dispatchers did not entitle them to overtime compensation. It noted that the officers could be compensated when called upon to work extra time. Plaintiffs appeal, alleging that the unquestioned limitations on their Code 7 time are so restrictive as to convert, as a matter of law, the Code 7 time into worktime.

2. The Right to Compensation Under Local Law

We conclude that the substantial limitations placed on the Code 7 time of the officers, sergeants and dispatchers of the Madera Police Department converted that time into hours worked. In reaching this conclusion we adopt a two-step analysis. We first examine whether the restrictions on off-duty time are primarily directed toward the fulfillment of the employer's requirements and policies. Second, we analyze whether the employees' off-duty time is so substantially restricted that they are unable to engage in private pursuits. Both questions, we conclude, should be answered in the affirmative and under the rules and regulations of the City of Madera, the employees are entitled to overtime compensation.

This analysis finds support in California case law. The precise issue of back pay for overtime worked as a result of restrictions placed on Code 7 time was addressed in Los Angeles Fire & Police Protective League v. City of Los Angeles (1972) 23 Cal.App.3d 67, 99 Cal.Rptr. 908. The appellate court concluded that, by regulation and administrative practice, the fire and police department officers were subject to substantial controls, limiting their freedom of action during Code 7 time. It upheld the trial court's finding that the officers were working during their mealtime break. ⁷ The Los Angeles employees were subject to the following constraints during their 45-minute break: "The officers are subject to call by their superiors, they are required to respond to requests by citizens, they are required to respond to emergencies, they may not eat at home or at the home of a friend even with prior approval, the officers may not remove their guns or uniforms (except for hat and coat) when eating in a public place, they must inform 'communications' where they are eating so they can be reached, and supervisory approval is required to take a meal out of their area... [T]hey may take their 'Code 7' time only at a time approved by their superiors and not at any regularly scheduled time of day or night. Other restrictions exist." (Id., at p. 73, 99 Cal.Rptr. 908.) The spirit of this decision applies to the case at bench.

The Los Angeles court lay emphasis upon two factors: benefit to the employer and the extent to which the restrictions limited the officers' pursuit of private matters during Code 7 time. We agree that the issue of whether the Madera Police Department employees are entitled to overtime compensation for Code 7 time initially requires a two-step analysis. First, are the restrictions primarily directed toward the fulfillment of the employer's requirements and policies? Second, are the employees substantially restricted during Code 7 time, so as to be unable to attend to private pursuits?

We turn to the first question. For whose benefit are the restrictions on Code 7 time placed? The requirement that the Madera Police Department employees return to duty if necessary and perform police services during Code 7 time is not beneficial to the employee who is trying to take a meal break; it is imposed primarily for the benefit of the employer. The officers and sergeants cannot conduct personal business while in uniform because, according to the testimony of Chief Skeels, it may intimidate the public. While positive public relations may indirectly benefit the employees, this requirement is beneficial primarily to the employer. Although the employees are permitted to change in and out of uniform during Code 7 time and conduct personal business, their reluctance to do so, arising...