Mireles v. Frio Foods, Inc.

• Decision Date: 12 February 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-1076,89-1076
• Citation: 899 F.2d 1407
• Parties: 29 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 1265, 115 Lab.Cas. P 35,362 Maria MIRELES, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants Cross-Appellees, v. FRIO FOODS, INC., Defendant-Appellee Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1407

899 F.2d 1407

29 Wage & Hour Cas. (BN 1265, 115 Lab.Cas. P 35,362

Maria MIRELES, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants Cross-Appellees, v. FRIO FOODS, INC., Defendant-Appellee Cross-Appellant.

No. 89-1076.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Feb. 12, 1990.

Israel M. Reyna, Tex. Rural Legal Aid, Inc., Laredo, Tex., Tex. Rural Legal Aid--Weslaco Office, Javier Riojas, Marc Linder, Weslaco, Tex., William H. Beardall, Jr., Austin, Tex., for plaintiffs-appellants cross-appellees.

Cynthia G. Schneider, Shelley Davis, Washington, D.C., for amicus--Migrant Legal Action.

Randolph P. Tower, Merrie Moore, Clemens, Spencer, Welmaker & Finck, San Antonio, Tex., for defendant-appellee cross-appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Before GEE, REAVLEY and GARWOOD, Circuit Judges.

REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:

The plaintiffs worked on an assembly line at a frozen food packaging facility operated by defendant Frio Foods, Inc. ("Frio"). They appeal the trial court's decision that the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") ¹ does not require Frio to pay them for idle time of less than fifteen minutes or more than forty-five minutes. Plaintiffs also appeal the trial court's decisions to limit liquidated damages to $1,000.00 under 29 U.S.C. Sec. 260 and to apply the two, rather than three, year statute of limitations in the FLSA. Frio cross-appeals that part of the decision entitling plaintiffs to compensation for idle time that is between fifteen minutes and forty-five minutes. Frio also cross-appeals the liquidated damages award. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I.

The plaintiffs in this case are thirty-four current or former employees of defendant, Frio, who worked on an assembly line at Frio's frozen food packaging facility. The plaintiffs were paid the minimum wage ² for each recorded hour of work. The assembly line workers, including the plaintiffs, worked in crews. There were as many as one hundred employees in certain crews. The crews, in turn, were divided into groups. The time worked by a group was recorded on a master time card that was controlled by Frio. Each employee's pay was based on the hours recorded on the master time card.

Generally, Frio ran a day shift and a night shift. At times, a third "middle shift" was used. At the end of each crew's shift, Frio informed the members of that crew the time that they were expected to report to work the next day. Normally, the day shift was directed to report at 8:00 a.m. and the night shift was told to report at 4:30 p.m. At times, Frio would become aware that work would not be ready to begin at these scheduled times. In such instances, Frio would attempt to notify the workers to report at a later time. The later starting times would usually be on the hour, that is, 9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., or 6:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. or the like.

When assembly line employees arrived at the Frio plant, they were required to sign their names on a sign-in sheet. This sign-in sheet did not identify the time at which the employees arrived at work. At times, employees would arrive at work at the scheduled starting time and would sign the sign-in sheet but would be required to wait until produce was available before actually beginning productive work. Until the employees began laboring on the assembly line, they were not "clocked in" on the master time card by their supervisor. Because they were not "on the clock," Frio did not pay them for this waiting time.

In addition, during the day, work would stop occasionally because of a delay in the arrival of produce or because of a mechanical failure in the plant. During these work stoppages, plaintiffs might be "clocked-out" and, as a result, would not be paid.

The plaintiffs brought this action claiming that their right to be paid the minimum and overtime wages required by the FLSA ³ had been violated as a result of not being paid for periods of time spent waiting to perform productive work. The parties consented to a bifurcated trial and the issue of liability was tried to the court in April 1988. On May 5, 1988, the trial court issued its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in which it concluded that plaintiffs were entitled to pay for waiting times ranging from fifteen to forty-five minutes but were not entitled to pay for waiting times that were less than fifteen minutes or that were longer than forty-five minutes. The court ordered the parties to attempt to stipulate to the unpaid wages due each plaintiff for waiting periods of fifteen to forty-five minutes. The court also concluded that the two year, rather than three year, statute of limitations applied in the case.

In July 1988, the parties stipulated that the amount of unpaid wages due thirty-three of the thirty-four plaintiffs for waiting periods of between fifteen and forty-five minutes was $3,517.86. The parties were unable to agree on the unpaid wages due one remaining plaintiff and whether the plaintiffs were entitled to recover liquidated damages under 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216(b) of the FLSA.

On December 5, 1988, the court entered an order awarding plaintiffs $1,000.00 in liquidated damages and directing the parties to stipulate to the damages of the remaining plaintiff. On December 15, the parties stipulated that the unpaid wages due the remaining plaintiff for waiting periods of between fifteen and forty-five minutes was $800.00. On December 19 1988, the trial court entered final judgment awarding all plaintiffs the stipulated total of $4,317.86 in unpaid wages and an additional amount of $1,000.00 in liquidated damages. Plaintiffs filed an appeal from the final judgment and Frio cross-appealed.

II.

A. Waiting Time

This appeal requires us to determine whether the plaintiffs are entitled to compensation under the minimum and overtime wage provisions of the FLSA for time spent waiting to perform productive work. Whether an employee is entitled to pay for time spent waiting depends, in large part, ⁴ on the manner in which the idle time is spent. If the idle time is spent predominantly for the benefit of the employer, the employee is said to be " 'engaged to be waiting' " and is entitled to compensation. See Halferty v. Pulse Drug Co., 864 F.2d 1185, 1189 (5th Cir.1989) (quoting Halferty v. Pulse Drug Co., 821 F.2d 261, 269 (5th Cir.), modified, 826 F.2d 2 (5th Cir.1987)). On the other hand, if the time primarily benefits the employee, the employee is "waiting to be engaged" and is entitled to compensation only for that time spent in productive work. Id. Put another way, "the critical issue in determining whether an employee should receive compensation for idle time is whether the employee can use the time effectively for his or her own purposes." Id. (citing 29 C.F.R. Secs. 785.16-.17).

1. Waits of Between Fifteen and Forty-five Minutes

In its Conclusions of Law the trial court stated that

the Court finds that Plaintiffs should be compensated for waiting times ranging from fifteen minutes to forty-five minutes.... Waiting times ranging from fifteen minutes to forty-five minutes are compensable because, even though Plaintiffs were not required to remain on Defendant's premises, such periods were of such short duration that Plaintiffs could not effectively use them for their own purposes.

Frio argues that this finding is clearly erroneous. We disagree.

The determination of whether an employee is entitled to compensation is highly fact specific. See Rousseau v. Teledyne Movible Offshore, Inc., 805 F.2d 1245, 1247-48 (5th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 827, 108 S.Ct. 95, 98 L.Ed.2d 56 (1987). In its Findings of Fact the trial court stated that "[m]ost of Defendant's employees commute to work as the plant is not located near their homes. The nearest store to the plant is one and a half to two miles away." In addition, testimony presented at trial suggests that it would have been difficult for the employees to effectively use short periods of time for their own personal benefit. In light of the facts and circumstances of this case, see 29 C.F.R. Sec. 785.16, it was not clear error for the trial court to find that the plaintiffs could not use waiting times of between fifteen and forty-five minutes effectively for their own purposes. We believe the court's findings of fact and the record fully support the court's conclusion that the plaintiffs are entitled to compensation for this idle time.

Frio also contends that the waiting to be engaged doctrine, as interpreted by this court, indicates that the trial court erred in finding waiting times of fifteen to forty-five minutes compensable. In support of its position, Frio cites several cases decided by this court where we found that employees were not entitled to compensation for all of their time spent waiting. See Halferty, 864 F.2d at 1189; Brock v. El Paso Natural Gas Co., 826 F.2d 369, 374-75 (5th Cir.1987); Rousseau, 805 F.2d at 1248-49. However, these cases present facts so distinct from those now before us that we find them unpersuasive.

For instance, in Halferty, the plaintiff worked as a telephone dispatcher in her home from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. Halferty, 864 F.2d at 1187. She was required to answer a few telephone calls each night but otherwise was allowed "to pursue personal, social, and business activities. For example, she could and did eat, sleep, watch television, entertain guests, babysit, and do laundry." Id.

In El Paso, the plaintiffs were "on-call" from 4:00 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. at their home to respond to emergency alarms that indicated a problem on their employer's natural gas pipeline system. El Paso, 826 F.2d at 370. Alarms were infrequent and the employees normally were able to sleep eight hours a night and otherwise enjoy time with their families during this "on-call" time. Id. at 370 n. 3. The employees could freely "eat, sleep, entertain guests, watch television, or engage in any other personal recreational activity...." Id. at 370...