Monahan v. County of Chesterfield, Va.

• Citation: 95 F.3d 1263
• Decision Date: 17 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-1944,95-1944
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
• Parties: , 132 Lab.Cas. P 33,435, 3 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 806 Brian F. MONAHAN; Robert E. Balducci, Jr.; Paul Blocker; N. Scott Meyerhoffer; Timothy D. Morton, II; Michael S. Schipinski; James A. Venti; Keith Vincent; Geoffrey Scott Evans; Kenneth S. Crews, Plaintiffs-Appellees, and David J. Higgins; Richard R. Reid, Jr., Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF CHESTERFIELD, VIRGINIA, Defendant-Appellant.

Page 1263

95 F.3d 1263

65 USLW 2273, 132 Lab.Cas. P 33,435,

3 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 806

Brian F. MONAHAN; Robert E. Balducci, Jr.; Paul Blocker;

N. Scott Meyerhoffer; Timothy D. Morton, II; Michael S.

Schipinski; James A. Venti; Keith Vincent; Geoffrey Scott

Evans; Kenneth S. Crews, Plaintiffs-Appellees, and David J. Higgins; Richard R. Reid, Jr., Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF CHESTERFIELD, VIRGINIA, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 95-1944.

United States Court of Appeals,

Fourth Circuit.

Argued May 9, 1996.

Decided Sept. 17, 1996.

ARGUED: Michael Paul Falzone, Hirschler, Fleischer, Weinberg, Cox & Allen, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellant. Michael Tarcissius Leibig, Zwerdling, Paul, Leibig, Kahn, Thompson & Driesen, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Steven L. Micas, County Attorney, Michael P. Kozak, Assistant County Attorney, Wendell C. Roberts, Assistant County Attorney, Chesterfield, Virginia, for Appellant. Carla M. Siegel, Zwerdling, Paul, Leibig, Kahn, Thompson & Driesen, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellees.

Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, MICHAEL, Circuit Judge, and NORTON, United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina, sitting by designation.

OPINION

NORTON, District Judge:

This is a case brought by Plaintiffs-Appellees, a group of police officers employed by Defendant-Appellant Chesterfield County, Virginia ("County"), for back pay compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court granted summary judgment for Plaintiffs, and Chesterfield County appealed. Although Plaintiffs contend they are due straight time back pay under the FLSA, they concede that the County has properly compensated them for all overtime hours under the challenged pay system and that their hourly wages greatly exceeded the statutory mandated minimum wage. Plaintiffs brought this action under the FLSA not for any violation of minimum wage or overtime laws, but for straight time compensation.

We disagree with the lower court that summary judgment for Plaintiffs was appropriate. Instead, after reviewing the record and the FLSA, we believe that summary judgment should have been granted for the employer County. We find that fundamental to determining the validity of an employee's straight time claim under the FLSA is a determination by the trier of fact of the terms of the employee's express or implied employment agreement. If the employee has been paid for all nonovertime hours at a lawful rate pursuant to an employment agreement to which that employee has impliedly or expressly agreed, and the employee has also been paid at a lawful rate for all overtime hours, then the employee does not have a claim for an hourly compensation dispute under the FLSA. Additionally, we disagree with the lower court that the FLSA is the proper vehicle to pursue back pay for straight time in pay cycles in which an employee has worked no overtime and has been paid at least minimum wage for all hours worked. Considering the evidence in the record with respect to the terms of Appellees' employment agreements in conjunction with the FLSA's express remedies and historical purpose, we reverse the judgment of the lower court and instead grant summary judgment for Defendant-Appellant.

I.

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Miller v. FDIC, 906 F.2d 972, 974 (4th Cir.1990). In reviewing a district court's grant of summary judgment, the "appellate court is required to apply the same test the district court should have utilized initially." Goodman v. Mead Johnson & Co., 534 F.2d 566, 573 (3d Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1038, 97 S.Ct. 732, 50 L.Ed.2d 748 (1977). All evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Perini Corp. v. Perini Constr., Inc., 915 F.2d 121, 123-24 (4th Cir.1990). "[W]here the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, disposition by summary judgment is appropriate." Teamsters Joint Council No. 83 v. CenTra, Inc., 947 F.2d 115, 119 (4th Cir.1991). Further, "when an appeal from a denial of summary judgment is raised in tandem with an appeal of an order granting a cross-motion for summary judgment, we have jurisdiction to review the propriety of the denial of summary judgment by the district court." Sacred Heart Medical Ctr. v. Sullivan, 958 F.2d 537, 543 (3d Cir.1992) (citing Nazay v. Miller, 949 F.2d 1323, 1328 (3d Cir.1991)). "In addition, where, as here, the facts are uncontroverted, we are free to enter an order directing summary judgment in favor of the appellant." Id. at 543 (citing Nazay, 949 F.2d at 1328).

II.

This case was brought by twelve ¹ Chesterfield County police officers who request straight time back pay and maintain that the County pay system violates the Fair Labor Standards Act. As law enforcement personnel, the police officers are paid a salary pursuant to a partial exemption to the FLSA provided for law enforcement and fire protection personnel under 29 U.S.C. § 207(k). The officers work a 24-day cycle which has an accompanying overtime threshold of 147 hours. See 29 C.F.R. § 553.230 (1995). ² During the year, there are customarily fifteen of these 24-day cycles wherein the County schedules the officers to work 135 hours for ten cycles and 144 hours for five cycles.

Each officer is paid an annual salary that the County converts to a biweekly paycheck equal to a non-fluctuating base amount of 1/26th of his annual salary. The County converts their annual salaries to an hourly rate solely to determine the officers' applicable overtime rate. All advertisements placed by the County for job openings solicited applicants for salaried positions. Applicants are also informed of their potential compensation in terms of an annual salary during the interview process. The officers are listed in the Chesterfield County personnel manual as FLSA nonexempt ³ salaried employees. Since June 1, 1990, the County has had in place a policy stating that the officers would be paid overtime in addition to their salary whenever they exceed the 147 hour overtime threshold.

The officers regularly work hours above the normally scheduled 135 hours, and the County has paid overtime at a rate equal to time and a half for all hours worked in excess of the 147 hour overtime threshold. Additionally, the County pays the officers overtime for all call-outs, extra shifts, court appearances, and special assignments during off duty hours even if the officers have not reached the overtime threshold during a pay cycle. There are numerous times when the officers worked more than the regularly scheduled 135 hours, but did not exceed the 147 hour overtime threshold.

At issue in this action is back pay at a straight time rate for any of the hours worked "in the gap" during cycles in which the police officers have worked in excess of the regularly scheduled period. ⁴ The officers' claims can be divided into two separate groups. The first category are the claims (collectively referred to as "Claim 1") in which the officers exceeded the 147 hour overtime threshold and are therefore paid overtime for all hours worked in excess of the overtime threshold in addition to their normal salary. With respect to Claim 1, the County contends that the officers' salaries compensated them for all hours up to the 147 hour threshold whereas the officers contend that their salaries did not pay them for the time in the gap. The lower court coined the term "overtime gap time" to describe Claim 1 circumstances. The second category, called "pure gap time" (collectively referred to as "Claim 2"), consists of the circumstances in which the officers have exceeded the 135 hour regularly scheduled time period, but have not exceeded the 147 hour overtime threshold and therefore are paid their normal salary, but are not due any overtime. Similar to Claim 1, the County contends with respect to Claim 2 that the officers are due no further compensation because their salaries compensated them for all gap time in cycles wherein they worked no overtime.

By ruling in favor of Plaintiffs' summary judgment motion, the lower court held that the County was liable under the FLSA for both Claim 1 "overtime gap time" and Claim 2 "pure gap time." We disagree with the district court's interpretation of the applicability of the FLSA under the circumstances of this case. Today we attempt to place some common sense limitations on claims for straight time brought pursuant to the FLSA.

III.

As noted by the district court, the FLSA has been termed the "minimum wage/maximum hour law." Monahan v. Chesterfield County, Va., Civil No. 3:94CV844, at 4 (E.D.Va., Apr. 4, 1995) (hereinafter "Order"), J.A. 93. "The two central themes of the FLSA are its minimum wage and overtime requirements." Arnold v. Arkansas, 910 F.Supp. 1385, 1392 (E.D.Ark.1995). The FLSA was originally enacted in 1938 as the result of Depression era high unemployment and abusive working conditions. See Mechmet v. Four Seasons Hotels, Ltd., 825 F.2d 1173, 1176 (7th Cir.1987). Congress stated the FLSA's purpose was to protect employees from detrimental labor conditions and provide for the general well-being of workers. See Lyon v. Whisman, 45 F.3d 758, 763 (3d Cir.1995) (citing 29 U.S.C. § 202). The FLSA is clearly structured to provide workers with specific minimum protections against excessive work hours and substandard wages. Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight Sys., Inc., 450 U.S. 728, 739, 101 S.Ct. 1437, 1444, 67 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981). As noted by the Supreme Court in Overnight Motor Transp. Co. v. Missel, 316 U.S. 572, 62 S.Ct. 1216, 86 L.Ed. 1682 (1942):

In a period of widespread unemployment and small profits, the economy inherent in avoiding extra pay was expected to have an appreciable effect in the distribution of available work. Reduction of hours was a part of the plan from the beginning. "A fair day's pay for...