Souder v. Brennan

• Decision Date: 07 December 1973
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 482-73.
• Citation: 367 F. Supp. 808
• Parties: Nelson Eugene SOUDER et al., Plaintiffs, v. Peter J. BRENNAN, Secretary of Labor, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

367 F. Supp. 808

Nelson Eugene SOUDER et al., Plaintiffs, v. Peter J. BRENNAN, Secretary of Labor, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 482-73.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

December 7, 1973.

Paul R. Friedman, Margaret A. Kohn, Patricia M. Wald, Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs.

Harold Titus, Jr., U. S. Atty., Arnold T. Aikens, Robert M. Werdig, Jr., Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., for defendants.

DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AND INJUNCTION ORDER

AUBREY E. ROBINSON, Jr., District Judge.

This cause came before this Court upon plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and defendants' combined motion to dismiss and for summary judgment. Upon the entire record before this Court including the pleadings, interrogatories and affidavits, and upon the Memorandum Opinion of this Court dated November 14, 1973, it is hereby ordered that plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment is granted, and defendants' motions are denied. The Court having ruled that the Secretary of Labor has a duty to implement reasonable enforcement efforts applying the minimum wage and overtime compensation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act to patient-workers at non-Federal institutions for the residential care of the mentally ill and/or mentally retarded, it is further ordered, adjudged and declared:

A. NOTIFICATION TO THE CLASS. That the Secretary of Labor, his officers, agents, servants, and all persons acting or claiming to act in his behalf and interest hereinafter, the "Secretary", undertake the following notification activities:

(1) Within 120 days from the date of this Order, notify the Superintendent of each non-Federal facility for the residential care of the mentally ill and/or mentally retarded, and the chief executive officer or officers of the supervising state agency for mental health and/or mental retardation, that they have the same statutory responsibility to compensate patient-workers as non-patient workers, and that defendants intend to enforce the minimum wage and overtime compensation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act on behalf of patient-workers.

(2) Within 120 days from the date of this Order, inform the Superintendent of each non-Federal facility for the residential care of the mentally ill and/or mentally retarded; and the chief executive officer or officers of the supervising state agency for mental health and/or mental retardation of their obligation to maintain records of hours worked and other conditions of employment under 29 U.S.C. § 211(c) and 29 C.F.R. Part 516 for patient-workers, just as is required for non-patient employees at the same facilities.

(3) Within 120 days from the date of this Order, contact the Superintendent of each non-Federal facility for the residential care of the mentally ill and/or mentally retarded and request that he inform patient-workers at his facility of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Indications that proper attention has been given to informing the patient-workers of their rights will be:

a. That the Superintendent has notified in writing every resident and his guardian of his rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act, as declared in this decision;

b. That copies of such written notifications have been posted on every living unit of residential facilities for the mentally ill and/or mentally retarded;

c. That efforts have also been made to notify all residents orally of their rights—e. g., by holding group meetings for present residents and by establishing procedures under which each new resident will be notified of his rights within one week of his admission. In order to increase the chances that plaintiffs will fully comprehend such oral presentations, defendants may suggest to the Superintendents and to the chief executive officers of the supervising state agencies that representatives of concerned organizations be invited to observe and perhaps to participate at such meetings;

d. That non-patient employees of all non-Federal facilities for the residential care of the mentally ill and/or mentally retarded and their collective bargaining representatives or other representatives who deal with the employer on their behalf with respect to wages, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment, have been notified of this decision.

B. REASONABLE ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES. Within one year from the date of this order, defendants shall contact every institution to which the Order applies so as to establish and implement the necessary procedures including any special certifications under 29 U.S.C. § 214 whereby every patient-worker in such institutions will be paid the wages due him. After the Department of Labor has made its initial efforts to aid the institutions in establishing their procedures for paying wages, it shall continue

in the second year to give attention to investigation and enforcement of employment situations affecting the patient-workers. Thereafter, "reasonable" enforcement shall be defined to include those activities which are necessary to ensure the benefits of 29 U.S.C. §§ 206 and 207, to which patient-workers are entitled.

C. IMPLEMENTATION REPORTS. That the Secretary shall keep written records of his enforcement activities, which shall be available to the public through the Labor Department's Advisory Committee on Sheltered Workshops at six-month intervals. These reports should include a description of the activities taken to comply with the Order; the number of investigations of alleged violations of rights of patient-workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (including a breakdown by type of establishment and number of workers involved at each such establishment), and the reason for such investigations; the results of each such investigation; and the disposition of each investigation confirming statutory violations, including lawsuits, settlements, and other enforcement activities.

D. COSTS. That Court costs be taxed to defendants.

MEMORANDUM

This is an action for declaratory and injunctive relief presently before the Court on Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment.¹ Plaintiffs are three resident patient-workers at various state hospitals for the mentally ill or mentally retarded,² the American Association on Mental Deficiency,³ and the National Association for Mental Health.⁴ The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (AFSCME) has joined as Intervenor-Plaintiff.⁵ Defendants are the Secretary of the United States Department of Labor and his subordinates charged with implementing and enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. Plaintiffs seek a determination that the minimum wage and overtime compensation provisions of the Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 206-207 apply to patient-workers of non-Federal hospitals, homes, and institutions for the mentally retarded and mentally-ill (hereafter collectively referred to as the mentally ill). Plaintiffs further seek to compel the defendant Secretary of Labor and his subordinates to undertake enforcement of the said minimum wage and overtime compensation provisions.

It is undisputed that the Department of Labor has a declared policy of non-enforcement of the minimum wage and overtime provisions with regard to patient-workers at non-Federal institutions for the mentally-ill.⁶ It is also clear to the Court that if the Fair Labor Standards Act does apply to such patient-workers then the policy of non-enforcement is a violation of the Secretary's duty to enforce the law.⁷ Accordingly, the issue for resolution here is the applicability of the Fair Labor Standards Act to such patient-workers. This is a legal issue properly disposed of here by summary judgment.

The 1966 Amendments⁸ to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, extended coverage under the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Act for the first time to, inter alia, employees of public and private non-Federal hospitals and institutions for the residential care of the mentally ill. It is clear that these amendments were intended to cover the regular professional and non-professional staff of such institutions.⁹ Neither the statutory language nor the legislative history of the 1966 amendments, however, makes any direct reference to the status of patient-workers in such institutions. This fact is a matter of major concern to the Court for there are significant questions of policy and practicality underlying extension of the Act to patient-workers.¹⁰ Nevertheless, extensive review has convinced the Court that the Act does so apply and that Plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment.

A basic canon of statutory construction is that when statutory language is clear on its face and fairly susceptible of but one construction, that construction must be given to it.¹¹ Even where there is legislative history in point, albeit ambiguous or contradictory, it is unnecessary to refer to it and improper to allow such history to override the plain meaning of the statutory language.¹² Most certainly, then, the absence of any legislative history in point should not outweigh the words of the statute.¹³

The words of the statute here in question say simply that "employ" means "to suffer or permit to work",¹⁴ that "employer" specifically includes "a hospital, institution, or school"¹⁵ for the residential care of the mentally ill.¹⁶ The terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act have traditionally been broadly construed¹⁷ and the Congress is not only aware of but has approved of such broad construction.¹⁸ Economic reality is the test of employment¹⁹ and the reality is that many of the patient-workers perform work for which they are in no way handicapped and from which the institution derives full economic benefit.²⁰ So long as the institution derives any consequential economic benefit the economic reality test would indicate an employment relationship rather than mere therapeutic exercise. To hold otherwise would be to make therapy the sole justification...