Schumann v. Collier Anesthesia, P.A.

• Decision Date: 11 September 2015
• Docket Number: No. 14–13169.,14–13169.
• Citation: 803 F.3d 1199
• Parties: Billy SCHUMANN, Dustin Abraham, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. COLLIER ANESTHESIA, P.A., a Florida corporation, Wolford College, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, Thomas L. Cook, an individual, Lynda M. Waterhouse, an individual, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

803 F.3d 1199

Billy SCHUMANN, Dustin Abraham, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs–Appellants

v.COLLIER ANESTHESIA, P.A., a Florida corporation, Wolford College, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, Thomas L. Cook, an individual, Lynda M. Waterhouse, an individual, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 14–13169.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

Sept. 11, 2015.

Ryan David Barack, Michelle Erin Nadeau, Kwall Showers & Barack, PA, Clearwater, FL, Bradley P. Rothman, Weldon Rothman, Naples, FL, for Plaintiff–Appellant.

Jeffrey D. Fridkin, Grant Fridkin Pearson, PA, Naples, FL, Tammie Leigh Rattray, Ford & Harrison, LLP, Tampa, FL, for Defendant–Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. D.C. Docket No. 2:12–cv–00347–JES–CM.

Before MARTIN and ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judges, and PROCTOR,^* District Judge.

Opinion

ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge:

Upon receiving their master's degrees, certifications, and licenses, Plaintiff–Appellant student registered nurse anesthetists are legally able to put people to sleep. We have heard, though never ourselves experienced, that some legal opinions can do the same thing. We are hopeful that this one will not.¹

Plaintiffs in this case include twenty-five former student registered nurse anesthetists (“SRNAs” or “Students”)² who attended a master's degree program at Wolford College, LLC, with the goal of becoming certified registered nurse anesthetists (“CRNAs”).³ During the course of their study, the Students participated in a clinical curriculum, which, under Florida law, was a prerequisite to obtaining their master's degrees.

Through this legal action, the Students sought to recover unpaid wages and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq. (“FLSA”), for their clinical hours. After considering the six factors that the Department of Labor identified in guidance that, in turn, does no more than reduce the specific facts of Walling v. Portland Terminal Co., 330 U.S. 148, 67 S.Ct. 639, 91 L.Ed. 809 (1947), to a test, the district court determined that the SRNAs were not “employees” of Defendants and entered summary judgment for Defendants.

But, with all due respect to the Department of Labor, it has no more expertise in construing a Supreme Court case than does the Judiciary. Portland Terminal is nearly seven decades old and, in our view, addresses a very different factual situation involving a seven-or-eight-day, railroad-yard-brakeman training program offered by a specific company for the purpose of creating a labor pool for its own future use. This case, however, concerns a universal clinical-placement requirement necessary to obtain a generally applicable advanced academic degree and professional certification and licensure in the field.

So, while we follow Portland Terminal 's “primary beneficiary” test here, we do not believe that measuring the facts in this case by a strict comparison to those in Portland Terminal allows us to identify the primary beneficiary of a modern-day internship for academic credit and professional certification. As a result, we now adopt an application of Portland Terminal 's “primary beneficiary” test specifically tailored to account for the unique qualities of the type of internship at issue in this case. To allow the district court to apply this test in the first instance and, if the district court desires, to give the parties an opportunity to further develop the record to address the components of the test, we remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

A.

Florida tightly regulates the practice of nurse anesthesia to protect patients, since anesthesia delivery can carry a high risk. Performing the duties of a CRNA in Florida without a proper license or knowingly employing an unlicensed person to engage in CRNA duties constitutes a felony. See Fla. Stat. § 464.016. To obtain a CRNA license under Florida law, among other requirements, a person must graduate from an accredited program and be certified by the National Commission on Certification of Anesthesiologist Assistants. See Fla. Stat. §§ 458.3475, 459.023.

B.

Defendant Wolford College is a for-profit college that is wholly owned by Defendant Lynda Waterhouse (Wolford College's chief financial officer and secretary-treasurer) and several anesthesiologists who also have an ownership interest in Defendant Collier Anesthesia, P.A., a Florida corporation that provides anesthesia services. In addition to her duties at Wolford College, Waterhouse serves as the executive director of Collier Anesthesia. Defendant Dr. Thomas L. Cook is the president and a part-owner of Collier.

Wolford College offers one of 113 accredited CRNA programs in the country, providing a 28–month curriculum that culminates in a Master of Science degree in Nurse Anesthesia. While classroom learning dominates the first three semesters of the master's program, the last four semesters consist mainly of clinical experience—a requirement that Florida law, the Council on Accreditation for Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs,⁴ and the National Board of Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists all mandate.

Under the Council on Accreditation's standards, accredited schools must require students to participate in a minimum of 550 clinical cases in a variety of surgical procedures. This requirement is designed to ensure that when a student graduates and becomes licensed, she will be able to safely and competently monitor the status of her patients without another licensed professional in the room. Among other tasks that must be mastered during the clinical phase of training, SRNAs must learn to complete preoperative forms for patients; set up anesthesia

equipment; draw proper medications; monitor patients through the induction, maintenance, and emergence phases of anesthesia ; stock and re-stock anesthesia carts; prepare rooms for use; clean equipment; and serve while “on call.”

In Wolford College's clinical phase of education, each course has an instructor and a syllabus, and the school requires daily evaluations that must be completed by both the student and the CRNA or anesthesiologist who supervises the student. Every day, the supervising CRNA or anesthesiologist must grade the student in several areas, depending on the particular course. For example, in some of the courses, the supervisor must evaluate the SRNA every day in nine different categories, including anesthesia

cart, anesthesia machine, airway set up, patient assessment, record keeping, induction, maintenance, emergence, and interpersonal behavior. In addition, on the same form, the supervising CRNA or physician prepares brief comments regarding the day's events. The clinical courses also require end-of-semester self-evaluations prepared by the student and summative semester evaluations completed by the clinical instructor or coordinator.

In order to sit for the Board examination, students must graduate from an accredited nurse anesthesia program. For each class graduating in the years 2009 through 2013, between 96% and 100% of all Wolford graduates passed their Board certifications.

C.

In this case, the Students obtained some, if not all, of their clinical education at facilities where Collier Anesthesia practices anesthesiology. But the Students viewed their clinical efforts as more than just education; they filed suit alleging that they served as “employees” of Defendants for purposes of the FLSA and that Defendants unlawfully failed to compensate them with wages and overtime pay. During the proceedings, Defendants moved for summary judgment, and the Students filed a competing motion for partial summary judgment.

In support of their motion for summary judgment, Defendants submitted evidence that all Students were notified at the start of their education that they were not guaranteed employment with Collier upon graduation, and, in fact, none of the Students involved in this case ever worked for Collier after they obtained their master's degrees. The Students also agreed at the beginning of their educations (by signing Wolford's Handbook) that although they would be undertaking a clinical program, they would not become employed as nurse anesthetists through their participation.

In addition, Defendants' evidence showed that when the Students were at a clinical location, they were identified as SRNAs, and they were required to wear scrubs with the Wolford College logo. And, although while participating in the clinical program, in some instances, the Students, without direct supervision from an anesthesiologist or a CRNA, readied rooms, stocked carts, prepared preoperative forms, and performed other functions, a licensed anesthesiologist or CRNA was required to review the SRNAs' work as part of the SRNAs' daily evaluations.

For their part, the Students claimed that Collier benefited financially by using their services as SRNAs in place of licensed CRNAs. Although Wolford's curriculum contemplated that SRNAs would work in the clinical program for 40 hours per week, the Students submitted evidence that Collier routinely scheduled SRNAs in excess of 40 hours per week. They further presented testimony that they were scheduled to perform work at Collier-staffed facilities 365 days per year, including weekends, holidays, and the days in between semesters. And, although Wolford and Collier represented to the Students that their shifts would be eight hours long, the Students stated that they were required to arrive at facilities in advance of their scheduled shifts. Consequently, the Students indicated, an eight-hour shift actually required SRNAs to work for a minimum of 8.75 to 10 hours per day.

In addition to their own statements, the Students relied upon the testimony of Barbara Rose, a former Collier employee who the Students contend was responsible for CRNA and SRNA scheduling. From April 2010 through April 2012, Rose prepared the SRNA monthly and daily...