Marshall v. HENDERSONVILLE BOWL. CTR.
| Decision Date | 09 January 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-3545.,78-3545. |
| Citation | 483 F. Supp. 510 |
| Parties | Ray MARSHALL, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Plaintiff, v. HENDERSONVILLE BOWLING CENTER, INC., a corporation, and James D. Holder, Individually, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Theresa Ball, U. S. Dept. of Labor, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiff.
Michael W. Edwards, Hendersonville, Tenn., for defendants.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The complaint in this action was filed on November 28, 1978, under the provisions of section 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq., hereinafter called the Act, to enjoin the defendants from violating the minimum wage, overtime compensation, and record-keeping provisions of the Act. The plaintiff also sought to restrain the defendants from continued withholding of payment of minimum wages and overtime compensation due employees, together with liquidated damages and interest from the date such payments were due. The trial of this case took place on November 13 and 14, 1979. The Court having considered the record in this case, including the pleadings, the stipulation of the parties, the exhibits and statements of counsel, and being fully advised in the premises, does hereby make and enter, pursuant to Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as a final adjudication of this matter:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. Hendersonville Bowling Center, Inc., is a Tennessee corporation incorporated on February 2, 1976. Since the date of incorporation its principal office and place of business has been located at 500 West Main, Hendersonville, Tennessee, where it is engaged in the operation of a bowling establishment consisting of bowling lanes, snack bar, nursery, and billiard rooms.
2. The defendant, James D. Holder, is, and at all times since January 1, 1975, has been a resident of Hendersonville, Tennessee. He has actively managed the Hendersonville Bowling Center since it opened in early 1975 and has personally hired all the managers for it. Since the opening of the center, James D. Holder has frequently exercised his right to hire and fire personnel, determine rates of pay of persons employed at the center, set the hours of work of persons employed at the center, and approve all major capital expenditures at the center. He is also President of Hendersonville Bowling Center, Inc., and has held this office since the date of incorporation.
3. During the period since January 1, 1975, the defendant's employees at the aforementioned bowling establishment in Hendersonville, Tennessee, have regularly prepared and sold food which was processed, manufactured, or produced outside the state of Tennessee. These employees have also regularly handled and worked on bowling equipment, cleaning materials, chemicals, and other goods produced and manufactured outside the state of Tennessee.
4. Hendersonville Bowling Center was opened and operated as a proprietorship by James D. Holder until the incorporation of Hendersonville Bowling Center, Inc., on February 2, 1976. During the period since January 1, 1975, the defendant's Hendersonville Bowling Center establishment has had an annual gross volume of sales made and business done in excess of $450,000 (exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level).
5. The defendant, James D. Holder, President and Manager of Hendersonville Bowling Center, Inc., was, prior to the investigation out of which this lawsuit arose, previously contacted and investigated by employees of the Wage and Hour Division, U. S. Department of Labor, with regard to his construction business known as Dan Holder and Associates. The defendant, prior to the investigation out of which this lawsuit arose, paid back wages consisting of minimum wages and overtime compensation to employees of his construction business as a result of this prior investigation.
6. The defendants have had a certificate issued by the United States Department of Labor authorizing payment of subminimum wages at a specified rate to full-time students subject to conditions stated in the certificate for the period beginning January 12, 1978. Prior to January 12, 1978, the defendants had no such certificate.
7. From January 1, 1976, through January 7, 1978, the defendants paid a number of their employees wages at a rate less than the minimum hourly rate required by 29 U.S.C. § 206. The minimum wage rate required by 29 U.S.C. § 206 was not less than $2.20 an hour during the year beginning January 1, 1976; not less than $2.30 an hour after December 31, 1976, and not less than $2.65 an hour during the year beginning January 1, 1978.
8. The employees who were paid less than the then effective minimum wage, together with the minimum wages due them (exclusive of interest or liquidated damages), are as follows:
NAME AMOUNT DUE
John Angell $ 15.93
Skip Collier 38.96
Charlene L. Davison 20.80
Bobbie De Sheles 18.15
Donna Dixon 25.68
Lori Frazee 14.66
Daryl Lee Gray 19.13
Paulette Hamilton 114.83
Wendy Holt 28.60
Nancy Hrasna 68.96
Robin Hunter 26.95
Claire Kimbrough 47.33
Scott Lang 19.40
Cheryl Mims 44.05
Sherry Morgan 30.68
Jayne Mundy 25.91
Judy Norton 49.74
Janice T. Purvis 21.08
David Reavis 19.05
Debbie Rice 21.47
Karen Rykeley 32.25
Debbie Sells 26.18
Tammye Troutt 24.23
Sherry Turman 49.92
Laura Waits 10.58
Susan Wieshuegel 35.11
Whitney Young 14.00
9. The defendants have failed to maintain records of hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek for James Caroland, Leland Adcock, and David Hunter. The contested issues of fact are: (1) whether these three employees, or any of them, qualify as exempt under the provisions of 29 C.F.R. §§ 541 et seq., and (2) what hours were worked by them. For the purpose of applying the regulations to the facts of employment of each employee, the Court finds:
A. James R. Caroland.
James R. Caroland was employed to perform miscellaneous tasks around the establishment including routine cleaning of machines, renting equipment, operating the cash register, picking up debris and occasionally supervising student employees. The defendants employed James R. Caroland at their establishment during the pay periods ending September 2, 1977, through March 3, 1978. This employee was hired by the defendant James D. Holder and was paid at the rate of $2.75 per hour for all hours worked while he was there. With the exception of the first pay period, James R. Caroland never received time and one-half his regular rate of pay for the hours he worked in excess of 40 in a week. The defendants issued him two paychecks, the first being paid at the rate of $2.75 per hour for the first 40 hours he worked in each week (a payroll period being two weeks) and the second check being payment for the hours he worked in excess of 40 in each workweek also at the rate of $2.75 per hour. This rate of pay is evidenced by the defendants' own payroll records (Trial Exhibit No. 4) and by some of the checks issued to James R. Caroland by the defendants (Trial Exhibit No. 3). Although the defendants failed to maintain a record of the hours worked by this employee, the hours he worked can be determined by dividing $2.75 into the gross amount of each check in Trial Exhibit No. 3. The amount of back wages due this employee for the period between September 16, 1977, and March 3, 1978, is computed and set forth in Trial Exhibit No. 9 and totals $295.23 (exclusive of liquidated damages or interest).
B. Leland Adcock.
The defendants first employed Leland Adcock in September of 1976 at $2.25 per hour. Effective the payroll period ending February 18, 1977, Leland Adcock was paid a salary of $150 per week by the defendants until September 16, 1977, when he began receiving the salary of $175 per week. Prior to this date Adcock cannot qualify as exempt due to the absence of the requisite weekly salary of $155. 29 C.F.R. §§ 541.1(f), 541.2(e). Immediately prior to placing this employee on a salary, the defendants had sent him to a special school lasting approximately four weeks to learn how to repair and maintain Brunswick pin setting machines and other bowling equipment. The defendants list Leland Adcock on their payroll records as an assistant mechanic during this period of time (Trial Exhibit No. 11, at 3).
C. David Hunter.
The defendants first employed David F. Hunter in April, 1975, soon after the defendants' establishment first opened. David Hunter had been employed by Brunswick Corporation and as such had participated in the construction of the defendants' bowling lanes in the setting up of the equipment for the operation of the bowling lanes. When this employee was first hired, there was another employee who also did mechanical work on these machines but approximately two weeks after the hiring of David Hunter, the other employee was discharged, leaving David Hunter the sole qualified and certified mechanic in charge of 36 pin setting machines and a number of scoring machines. No other person was certified and qualified to work on these machines until...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Thomas v. County of Fairfax, Va.
...720 F.Supp. at 1229; Fire Fighters Local 2141 v. City of Alexandria, 720 F.Supp. at 1232; see also Marshall v. Hendersonville Bowling Center, Inc., 483 F.Supp. 510 (M.D.Tenn.1980) (Secretary of Labor is authorized to define and limit, by regulation, the term "executive" in FLSA, and regulat......
-
Prakash v. American University
...Retail Store Employees Union v. Drug Fair-Community Drug Co., 307 F.Supp. 473, 476 (D.D.C.1969); Marshall v. Hendersonville Bowling Center, 483 F.Supp. 510, 517 (M.D.Tenn.1980), aff'd, 672 F.2d 917 (6th Cir.1981); Hodgson v. Barge, Waggoner & Sumner, Inc., supra note 9, 377 F.Supp. at 844.2......
-
Cowan v. Treetop Enterprises, Inc.
...435 F.2d 377, 382 (6th Cir.1970) cert. denied, 402 U.S. 973, 91 S.Ct. 1660, 29 L.Ed.2d 137 (1971); Marshall v. Hendersonville Bowling Ctr., 483 F.Supp. 510, 517 (M.D.Tenn.1980) aff'd, without op., 672 F.2d 917 (6th Cir.1981). The employer also must show that each employee meets each and eve......
-
Donovan v. Burger King Corp.
...Wirtz v. Arcata Plywood Corp., 18 WH Cases 720 (E.D.Cal.1969) (manager of data processing department); Marshall v. Hendersonville Bowling Center, Inc., 483 F.Supp. 510 (M.D.Tenn.1980) (bowling alley employees); Walling v. General Industries Co., 330 U.S. 545, 67 S.Ct. 883, 91 L.Ed. 1088 (19......