Martin v. Coyne Intern. Enterprises, Corp., 1341

Citation966 F.2d 61
Decision Date01 June 1992
Docket NumberNo. 1341,D,1341
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
Parties30 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 1537, 60 USLW 2787, 122 Lab.Cas. P 35,649 Lynn MARTIN, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COYNE INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISES, CORP., a Corporation, doing business as Coyne Textile Services, Defendant-Appellee. ocket 91-6319.

Leif G. Jorgenson (Marshall J. Breger, Sol. of Labor, Monica Gallagher, Associate Sol., William J. Stone, Counsel for Trial Litigation, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D.C.), for plaintiff-appellant.

Kerry J. Hanlon, O'Hara & Hanlon, Syracuse, N.Y., for defendant-appellee.

Before: OAKES, Chief Judge, WALKER, Circuit Judge, and LEVAL, District Judge. *

WALKER, Circuit Judge:

This case involves a single issue of statutory interpretation. The Secretary of Labor ("Secretary") sued Coyne International Enterprises ("Coyne") under § 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 207, to recover overtime wages allegedly owing to drivers employed by Coyne. The sole question is whether § 13(b)(1) of the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(1), exempts Coyne's drivers from the overtime requirements. The district court found that the exemption applied, and granted summary judgment to Coyne. We agree with the district court, and therefore affirm.

Background

The facts in this case are not in dispute. Coyne operates an industrial laundry service with plants, terminals and routes in twenty-one states. Coyne does not pay overtime wages to the drivers who deliver laundry to Coyne's customers in the Buffalo area. The parties stipulate that the vehicles operated by the Buffalo drivers weigh exactly 10,000 pounds.

The Secretary brought a claim on behalf of Coyne's drivers seeking to recover back overtime wages and to establish a right to future overtime compensation. Coyne filed a motion for summary judgment, relying on § 13(b)(1) of the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(1). That section provides that the overtime provisions of the FLSA shall not apply to "any employee with respect to whom the Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of [the Motor Carriers Act]."

Under the Motor Carriers Act, the Secretary of Transportation has the power to regulate the "qualifications and maximum hours of service of employees of ... a motor private carrier, when needed to promote safety of operation." 49 U.S.C § 3102(b)(2). The parties agree that Coyne is a motor private carrier within the meaning of the statute. They also agree that prior to 1988, the Secretary of Transportation had the power to regulate Coyne's drivers, and therefore that, under § 13(b)(1), the minimum wage provisions of the FLSA did not apply.

The Secretary of Labor contends, however, that regulations promulgated in 1988 by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Secretary of Transportation's arm for enforcing the Motor Carriers Act, effectively cancelled the power of the Secretary of Transportation to regulate the hours of Coyne's Buffalo drivers. Specifically, the Secretary points to 49 C.F.R. § 390.5, which defines commercial motor vehicles to include only those vehicles having "a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of 10,001 or more pounds." The Secretary asserts that with this decision to limit the scope of existing regulation to vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds, the FHWA relinquished the "power" under the Motor Carriers Act to regulate lighter vehicles. Thus, the Secretary argues that the § 13(b)(1) exemption from the overtime provisions of the FLSA does not apply.

Judge Curtin, in a thorough and well-reasoned opinion, rejected this argument. The district court explained that the decision not to exercise a particular power is not equivalent to the non-existence of that power. Accordingly, the court granted summary judgment to Coyne. We now affirm.

Discussion

The Secretary can not seriously contend that a mere failure to regulate by the FHWA would be equivalent to a denial of the power to regulate for § 13(b)(1) purposes. The Supreme Court rejected this argument nearly fifty years ago in Southland Gasoline Co. v. Bayley, 319 U.S. 44, 63 S.Ct. 917, 87 L.Ed. 1244 (1943). There, the Court held that the defendant was exempt from the FLSA even though the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) (which, at the time, had the power to enforce the Motor Carriers Act) had not yet issued regulations that covered defendant's employees. See also Levinson v. Spector Motor Service, 330 U.S. 649, 67 S.Ct. 931, 91 L.Ed. 1158 (1947); Morris v. McComb, 332 U.S. 422, 68 S.Ct. 131, 92 L.Ed. 44 (1947).

The Secretary asserts instead that once the FHWA established regulations excluding a particular group, the FHWA became bound by those regulations and thus lacked the power to regulate the excluded group. The Supreme Court, however, rejected a similar argument in Southland Gasoline. There, the plaintiffs pointed out that the Motor Carriers Act authorized the ICC to set maximum hours only "if need therefor is found." 319 U.S. at 47, 63 S.Ct. at 919. The Court responded that the necessity of such a prior finding "did not affect the existence of the power." Id. at 48, 63 S.Ct. at 919. Similarly, the fact that the FHWA must promulgate new regulations in order to cover Coyne's employees does not mean that the FHWA lacks the power to do so.

The cases cited by the Secretary are not to the contrary. In Jones v. Giles, 741 F.2d 245 (9th Cir.1984) the Secretary of Transportation had issued regulations stating that ambulance drivers were not covered by the Motor Carriers Act. The Ninth Circuit deferred to that construction of the statute and concluded that the § 13(b)(1)...

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