Miller v. Blumenthal Mills, Inc., 4013.
| Decision Date | 05 July 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 4013.,4013. |
| Citation | 616 S.E.2d 722 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | Ernest MILLER and Patricia Miller, Appellants, v. BLUMENTHAL MILLS, INC., Respondent. |
Chalmers C. Johnson, of Charleston, for appellants.
Michael S. Thwaites, of Greer, for respondent.
This appeal arises from the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the employer in a case brought by employees pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act for unpaid overtime wages. We affirm in result as to Ernest Miller. We reverse and remand as to Patricia Miller.
Blumenthal Mills, Inc., is a textile manufacturer located in Marion, South Carolina. Patricia Miller (Patricia) is employed by Blumenthal. Ernest Miller (Ernest), Patricia's husband, worked for Blumenthal before being terminated in May 2003 after a confrontation with a Blumenthal supervisor. The Millers filed suit against Blumenthal alleging an unwritten plant rule required its workers to clock in approximately twenty minutes early every day to "perform . . . machine preparation" or look over their work. The Millers aver that during training, they were instructed to come in about twenty minutes before their shift started to check and make sure the prior shift left them in good shape. The Millers were not paid for this extra time. They contend the failure to pay overtime violates the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).1
Blumenthal has a written policy contained in an employee handbook permitting its employees to clock in "a reasonable amount of time before the commencement of their shift." Blumenthal asserts "[t]his guideline is designed as a convenience to [employees] and to ease congestion at the time clock during starting and quitting times." This policy prohibits employees from beginning any work-related activity before their regularly scheduled starting time, unless such activity is first approved in writing by management.
In order to provide a degree of exactitude in regard to the testimony of Patricia, we quote her deposition extensively:
Q. It has down here, Where was this meeting?
A. In the supervisor's office.
Q. Who is Julia?
A. She is another weaver. Julia Davis.
. . . .
Q. When you went to work for Blumenthal, initially, was it as a weaver?
A. No, sir. I was a creeler.
. . . .
Q. Now, the creelers, are they required to be there twenty minutes ahead of time?
A. They have been told to get in there and check their job early to make sure everything was right.
Q. OK. . . . [W]ere you told to do that when you first went to work there?
A. Yes.
Q. How long did it take you to do that?
A. At l[e]ast fifteen, twenty, twenty-five minutes.
Q. What would you have to do?
A. Go down the set I was creeling and check to see if all the filling was on the creel stand and make sure that I wasn't being left bad.
Q. You mean by the other shift when you say left bad?
A. Yes.
Q. Why couldn't you do that when your shift started as opposed to twenty minutes before?
A. Because if I was left bad, there was nothing I could do about it.
Q. All right. But, if you were left bad, what could you do about it then if you observed it before the shift?
A. I can have the other creeler took into the office and had said something about it to see if she couldn't tighten up in doing her job a little bit better.
. . . .
Q. But . . . basically what you had to do is come in early to check on what the creelers were doing before you?
A. Yes.
. . . .
Q. How did you find out that you as a creeler were expected to be there early to check your work?
A. From the creeler that was training me.
Q. Who was that?
A. Sylvia.
. . . .
Q. What exactly did Sylvia say to you?
A. She would say
Q. Would she tell you how early to come in?
A. She would say at least twenty minutes ahead of time.
. . . .
Q. Did you [later] go through a specific training course [to become a weaver]?
A. Yes.
Q. Who conducted that?
A. Ms. Diane.
. . . .
Q. OK. Tell me about your weaver training. What did that involve?
A. . . . Ms. Diane would say "You come—need to come—be on your job at least twenty minutes ahead of time."
. . . .
Q. . . . [Y]our testimony is that Diane told the entire weave class they had to come in twenty minutes early?
A. Yes.
Q. And, did she tell you why?
A. To make sure our jobs were running good.
Q. Did she tell you what that involved . . . making sure your jobs ran good?
A. Yes. That was . . . to check your cloth. Walk the back of your looms to make sure none of your lenos was running out.
. . . .
Q. . . . Check the cloth on your looms to make sure there were no defects?
A. No defects.
. . . .
Q. Well, why would you need to come in early to do that?
A. To make sure it is running no defects. If it is running defects, I can stop it off.
. . . .
Q. OK. So, you check cloth for defect. What else would you do?
A. Check the back of the looms to make sure we had no lenos running out.
. . . .
Q. So, you would go in early to check and make sure that you had ten [lenos on one side] and eight [lenos on the other side]?
A. Yes. If not, we can stop off the loom and have that weaver to put them lenos in.
. . . .
Q. Well, did you say that . . . you would go before your shift started and check this?
A. Yes.
Q. And, did you then have the ability to stop the loom?
A. Yes.
Q. So, you would stop the loom on somebody else's shift?
A. Yes. That is exactly what they told us we are allowed to do.
Q. Did you ever actually do that?
A. Yes.
. . . .
Q. OK. And, would you then prior to your shift starting have to physically go to each of the fifteen looms and check for quality?
A. Yes.
Q. How long would that take?
A. It usually takes no more than about twenty, twenty-five minutes.
. . . .
Q. OK. How long would it take you to check [the lenos]?
A. It is probably no more than about a minute.
Q. Well, what if you found that there weren't enough lenos? There was some problem with it. Would you then have to—
A. Stop the loom off and . . . put the right amount of lenos in.
Q. How often did that happen or does that happen?
A. It happens every day.
. . . .
Q. And, you do this before your shift starts?
A. Yes.
Q. How long does it take you in an average day—how many lenos do you have to swap out?
A. Anywhere from two to three.
Q. How long does it take you to do that?
A. It takes a good three minutes to run one—one leno in.
Q. So, that could take in an average day ten minutes?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. OK. So, we have got checking cloth and making sure about the lenos. Anything else that you have to do?
A. Yes. We have to make sure it is running the right filling.
Q. How do you do that?
A. The weave order, we go and look to see what color the filling is that is supposed to be on the loom, then we take the weave order and match it up with the filling that is on the creel stand.
. . . .
Q. OK. And, then you look at the weave order and you do what with it?
A. Take it and go around to the filling to make sure it is running the right filling.
Q. OK. And, you do that for each of your fifteen looms?
A. Yes.
Q. How long would that take total time?
A. No more than about two or three minutes [per loom].
. . . .
Q. . . . So, we are still talking about before your shift starts. We have got checking cloth for defects. Dealing with the lenos. And, then I forgot what you called this last thing. Matching up the orders to the filler?
A. Yes. To the filling.
. . . .
Q. . . . [W]hen you had a bunch of [lenos] you had to swap out, how long could that take to do?
A. Well, if you couldn't get them before work, then it would take all day to put them in. . . .
. . . . Q. . . . When you are matching up the orders to the filling and you find there's mismatches, what would you have to do then?
A. Stop the loom off and take the wrong filling off and make—get the right filling and put it on there.
Q. Now, would you . . . also do that before your shift would start?
A. Yes.
Q. So, you would stop another weaver's loom?
A. Yes.
. . . .
Q. OK. Well, does that mean that you would . . . come to work, go out and do the prep work, and then go back to the time clock and clock in?
A. No, sir. I would clock in, then I would go to work.
. . . .
Q. . . . And this coming in early has been the rule the whole time, is that right?
A. Yes.
. . . .
Q. I mean, were you aware you weren't getting paid for this time?
A. Yes, sir.
. . . .
Q. But, even with these written guidelines in place, it is your testimony that the real rule is that you do have to come in twenty minutes ahead of time and do prep work?
A. Yes, because they tell us to.
Q. Who is they?
A. Trainees, our supervisor. If we are having a problem with the weaver that—that is leaving us and they will say if we don't want our job running bad to come in and check it out a little bit early.
. . . .
Q. . . . I want you to give me the—a list of the names of any witness, any person who can provide first hand testimony that is can say that they have seen you perform work-related activity before your shift started?
A. OK. Julia Davis.
Q. Let me write them down as we are going along. Julia Davis. She still works there?
A. Yes. Jackie. I don't know Jackie's last name.
Q. What does Jackie do?
A. She's a weaver.
Q. On what shift?
A. My shift. Woody Church. Was Roger Hilderbrand, but he ain't there no more.
Q. All right. Woody Church is your immediate supervisor?
A. Yes. And, he knows every morning when I clock in and when I go to my job, right along with Roger Hilderbrand, because I will be checking my cloth when Roger be doing his job and Roger will walk right by me.
Q....
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