Mosquera v. Mti Retreading Co.
| Decision Date | 14 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 17-2366 |
| Parties | CARLOS HUMBERTO PEREZ MOSQUERA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MTI RETREADING COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION
File Name: 18a0405n.06
ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
BEFORE: COOK, STRANCH, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges.
NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff Carlos Humberto Perez Mosquera ("Perez") worked as a supervisor in Defendant MTI Retreading's ("MTI") tire-retreading plant from April 2012 until April 2015. He filed a two-count complaint alleging that MTI violated the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") by not paying him overtime wages and breached an employment contract by terminating him prematurely. MTI moved for summary judgment on both counts. First, it argued that Perez was not entitled to overtime wages because he was exempt under the FLSA, and second, that his H-1B visa application could not form the basis of an employment contract. The district court granted MTI's motion for summary judgment on both counts, and for the following reasons, we affirm.
MTI retreads tires. It is a franchisee of the Michelin company and employs approximately twenty employees including operators, supervisors, and a plant manager. Operators work a rather routine job, transitioning tires through "posts" where the tires receive a variety of treatments. Each operator typically works a single machine at one or two posts, and it is common for operators to work from the same one or two posts for thirteen or fourteen years. Operators are not expected to have any retreading or engineering knowledge upon hire. Nor are they expected to have an advanced education. In fact, none of MTI's operators possess more than a high school diploma or GED. Operators typically earn between $8.50 and $11.00 per hour upon hire, but the most senior operators can earn approximately $13.50 to $14.50 per hour. Operators are classified as non-exempt under the FLSA and receive overtime pay. During the slow season, full-time operators earn as little as $300 a week. But during the busy season, when operators work six days a week and earn overtime pay, the most senior operators earn as much as $700 or $800 per week.
Supervisors do what their title suggests—they supervise operators. Unlike operators, supervisors are not assigned one machine; rather, they are expected to be familiar with all the machines. This is because they are tasked with a mix of managerial and technical duties, such as training and assigning operators, ensuring that production and quality standards are met, resolving "bottlenecks," and reviewing each operator's individual productivity reports daily to maximize efficiency and output. In addition, there was testimony that supervisors hire, discipline, and fire operators as needed. Supervisors are paid a salary and are not eligible for overtime or production bonuses. New supervisors earn approximately $750 per week, and their pay may be increased periodically based on market conditions.
MTI's plant manager is Jose Rojas. He is a degreed engineer from Colombia and is responsible for running the plant's operations. Perez enters the picture in 2011, when Rojas and MTI's owners began discussing the possibility of adding a night, or second, shift at the plant. Perez, like Rojas, is a degreed engineer from Colombia. Rojas contacted Perez because he wantedhim to supervise the second shift at MTI, and because he was seeking to boost MTI's engineering talent.
On August 30, 2011, Rojas sent Perez an email proposing the terms of his employment. The email stated that Perez would receive a salary of $750 per week to work as a supervisor without any potential for bonuses. Shortly after receiving the email, Perez began to seek employment with MTI and MTI began the process of sponsoring an H-1B visa for Perez. Accordingly, MTI submitted an I-129 to the government that included information about Perez's employment.
When he started at MTI, Perez signed an employment application indicating that he would be an "at-will" employee. Specifically, the application required him to agree that his "employment and compensation [could] be terminated, with or without cause, and with or without notice, at any time, at either [his] or [MTI's] option." R. 82-13, Employment Appl. at PageID #1156. Perez worked at MTI for the entire three-year term initially authorized by his visa. In 2015, Perez's pay was increased from $750 per week to $880 per week, and MTI successfully sought an extension of his visa for an additional three-year term. But on April 28, 2015, Rojas and Perez had an altercation and Perez left the plant. Rojas claims he simply told Perez "not [to] come back that day." Perez, however, claims that Rojas fired him after their altercation ended and told him "to leave and never come back again." What is undisputed is that Perez never returned to work at MTI after the altercation. Sometime later, Perez brought this suit alleging that MTI violated the FLSA by not paying him overtime wages and breached his employment contract by prematurely terminating him. MTI moved for summary judgment arguing that Perez was exempt from receiving overtime pay under the FLSA and that Perez did not have an employment contract with MTI. The district court granted MTI's motion for summary judgment on both counts.
We review an order granting summary judgment de novo. Tysinger v. Police Dep't of City of Zanesville, 463 F.3d 569, 572 (6th Cir. 2006). Summary judgment is proper if "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Id. (quotation omitted); see also Fed R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1). When deciding a motion for summary judgment, the court must view the evidence and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party. Tysinger, 463 F.3d at 572. A "genuine dispute," however, must be based on evidence that a reasonable jury could return a verdict in favor of the non-moving party. Id.
Under the FLSA, employees who work more than forty hours per week are entitled to overtime compensation of at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay. 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1). Employees who work in a "bona fide" executive or professional capacity, or some combination of the two, however, are exempt from the FLSA's overtime pay requirements. See 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(1); 29 C.F.R. § 541.708. The FLSA overtime exemptions are affirmative defenses "on which the employer has the burden of proof." Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 U.S. 188, 196-97 (1974). In construing these exemptions, we give them a "fair (rather than a 'narrow') interpretation." Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 138 S. Ct. 1134, 1142 (2018) (quoting A. Scalia & B. Garner, Reading Law 363 (2012)).1
Perez argues that he worked over forty hours per week at MTI but was unlawfully denied overtime pay. R. 1, Compl. at PageID #3. MTI counters that Perez was properly exempted from the FLSA's overtime pay requirements under the professional, executive, and combination exemptions. See Appellee Br. at 17. The trial court determined that Perez was exempt under the professional and combination exemptions, so he was not entitled to overtime pay. R. 93, Op. and Order at PageID #1819.
An employee qualifies as a professional under the FLSA if he earns a salary of at least $455 per week and has, as his "primary duty," the performance of work "[r]equiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction." 29 C.F.R. § 541.300(a) (2015).
It is undisputed that Perez was paid a salary of at least $455 per week. See Appellant's Corrected Br. at 14; Appellee Br. at 18 n.5. It is also undisputed that the supervisory role MTI says it hired Perez to fulfill would, theoretically, qualify under the professional exemption. "[W]ork requiring advanced knowledge" means work that is "predominantly intellectual in character" and involves "analyz[ing], interpret[ing], or mak[ing] deductions from varying facts or circumstances." 29 C.F.R. § 541.301(b). And Rojas's description of a supervisor's job indicates that supervisors are required to perform work satisfying that definition, such as resolving "bottlenecks" in production, training operators on machines, resolving issues with equipment, and monitoring production quotas and quality control. R. 82-3, Rojas Dep. at PageID #947, 954, 959, 963. Moreover, Rojas said he hires supervisors with engineering degrees because they "can be trainedto successfully oversee a retreading operation without first obtaining several years of experience in retreading as would otherwise be a minimum requirement for such a role." R. 82-9, Rojas Aff. at PageID #1139. And "engineering" is specifically enumerated in the FLSA's regulations as "a field of science or learning." 29 C.F.R. § 541.301(c). In letters submitted in support of Perez's visa application, MTI's vice president explained that the company wished to hire Perez, who has an engineering degree, to boost the Company's engineering and technical prowess to fuel its growth. R. 90-18, Meekhof Letter 1, at PageID #1613; R. 90-19, Meekhof Letter 2, at PageID #1617. Finally, before Perez came to the United States to work for MTI, Rojas sent Perez an email informing him that among his objectives as a supervisor would be to perform tasks such as "monthly quality controls on each position" and "solve problems with employees, solve quality problems, and make presentations when clients visit." R. 82-5, Perez Dep. at Page ID #1083.
What Perez disputes is whether, in fact, it really was Perez's "primary duty" to work as a supervisor, as described by Rojas and MTI. See Appellant's Br. at 14. "The term 'primary...
To continue reading
Request your trial