Young v. Beard
| Decision Date | 06 March 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 2:11-cv-02491-KJM-AC,2:11-cv-02491-KJM-AC |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California |
| Parties | RYAN YOUNG, individually and on behalf of those similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. DR. JEFFREY BEARD, in his capacity as the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Defendant. |
The plaintiffs are correctional officers. They allege their employer, Mule Creek State Prison, requires them to work overtime without pay. The defendant, Dr. Jeffrey Beard,1 has moved for summary judgment and to decertify the conditionally certified class. The court heard argument on the motions on November 14, 2014. Gregory Alumit appeared for Mr. Young. Jennifer Garten and David King appeared for Dr. Beard. After considering the parties' briefs and arguments, the court grants the defendant's motion for summary judgment and denies the motion to decertify as moot.
Ryan Young is a correctional officer at Mule Creek State Prison, or MCSP, in Ione, California. Order Feb. 22, 2013, at 1, ECF No. 58. He represents a conditionally certified class of other officers who work at MCSP. Id. at 9. Dr. Beard is the current Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or CDCR, the organization responsible for operating MCSP. Def.'s Mot. Summ. J. 1, ECF No. 99-1. This order adopts the parties' convention and refers to the defendant as MCSP or the prison. In the factual summary that follows, when the court determines the parties do not genuinely dispute a material fact, the court refers to the parties' statement of undisputed facts. See Def.'s Reply Pls.' Stmt. Undisp. Mat. Facts (UMF), ECF No. 117-1.
The officers are represented by the California Correctional Peace Officers' Association (CCPOA), an organization that negotiates on their behalf with the State of California over wages, hours, and other terms of employment. UMF no. 2. The officers' schedule, salary, and overtime compensation are described in a Memorandum of Understanding between CCPOA and the State. Id. nos. 3, 4. The agreed work schedule requires officers to work five 8-hour shifts in each 7-day period, id. no. 7, but compensates them for 7-day periods of 41 hours, id. no. 5. Pay for the forty-first hour is meant to compensate unscheduled work done before and after the officers' 8-hour shifts. Id. no. 8. Any work beyond 41 hours in a 7-day period is compensated as overtime. Id. no. 5.
Officers like Mr. Young also accrue leave credits, which they may charge against to take time off. Id. no. 12. One way an officer may charge leave credits is by submitting a "Holiday Time Off" or HTO request form.2 Id. no. 13. Despite the form's name, officers may use HTO request forms to request time off on any day of the year. Id. no. 16. Officer Young'scomplaint and this case are about the process MCSP uses to accept HTO request forms. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 13-15. The process is best understood in context. Because MCSP must operate twenty-four hours a day every day, it must staff all its posts at all times, UMF no. 10, and not every request for time off can be granted, id. nos. 29, 31. MCSP grants only a certain, pre-determined number of requests every day. Id. no. 30; Karr Dep. 75:14-76:15. Lieutenant Matt Karr, the person MCSP designated most knowledgeable about the HTO request process under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6), testified the predetermined number is five: one for the shift beginning at 10 p.m. and two each for the shifts beginning at 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. Karr Dep. 76:1-9; UMF no. 11.
An officer begins the HTO process by completing an HTO request form, which must identify the date, shift, and post for which the officer requests leave. UMF no. 28. Officers may turn in completed forms on any day and at any time, but only within a specific HTO submission window. Id. nos. 32, 42, 43. If an officer wants to take the day off on March 15 for a shift beginning at 6 a.m., the window opens on February 15 at 5:30 a.m., one calendar month and one half-hour before the target shift. Id. The window closes on March 15, the day the officer wishes to take leave.3 Id. All else equal, a request submitted earlier within that window has priority over a request submitted later. Id. nos. 34-36. Naturally then, officers have an incentive to submit requests as early as possible. See id. no. 36. In an apparent effort to determine which forms are submitted first, MCSP requires officers to place official time stamps on completed HTO request forms when submitted. Id. no. 26.
HTO forms may only be submitted in the watch office, id. no. 26, which is inside MCSP, id. no. 24. To enter the prison, correctional staff first drive through the front gate. Id. no. 18. After showing an ID, an officer parks and passes on foot through another gate, this time to enter the secured perimeter. Id. nos. 18, 19. Employees and the public use the same entrance to the prison and the secured perimeter. Id. no. 20. At the entrance to the secured perimeter, an officer must again show ID, swipe an ID card, and open any bags for inspection. Id. no. 21.Within the secured perimeter, officers show their IDs again and pass through a sally port to the central services building. Id. no. 24. The watch office is inside the central services building. Id. Lieutenant Karr testified it takes about three minutes to reach the watch office from the parking lot, including time spent passing through security checks. Id. no. 25; Karr Dep. 42:16-22. Karr estimated the distance from the parking lot to the prison's inmate yards is about 150 to 180 yards. Karr Dep. 13:21-15:8. The officers dispute Karr's estimate of a three-minute walk, but do not offer an alternative time estimate, relying instead on inference from the distance an officer must travel and number of security checks required: officers must pass through two security checks, open bags for inspection, swipe ID cards, proceed to Main Control, pass through gates to the prison yards (only one of the three gates may be open at the same time), and walk to the Program Office. See UMF no. 25. They agree the distance from the parking lots to the prison yards is about 150 yards. Id. At hearing, counsel conceded they had no time estimate of their own to compete with Karr's three minutes.
Because only one or two HTO requests are granted for a given shift on a given day, officers may arrive at the watch office even before the window opens for the most popular days of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Independence Day, and weekends in general. Id. no. 41; Stewart Dep. 49:14-50:9. The earliest any plaintiff testified he or she has arrived to stamp an HTO request was one hour before a shift. UMF no. 68. MCSP accepts HTO forms at any time within the submission window, however, id. no. 50, and many officers, including the plaintiff class members, have successfully submitted HTO request forms later than the earliest possible time, id. no. 49. Officers may even fill out and submit requests while on duty, but may be required to ensure their posts are covered during this time or obtain a supervisor's approval. Id. no. 48; King Decl. Ex. 48 passim, ECF No. 102-1 to -2.
Although MCSP requires officers to wear a uniform at work and arrive in uniform to begin a shift, Karr Dep. 21:12-22:21, it does not require that officers submit HTO requests in uniform, UMF no. 51, imposing rather only general dress code standards, id.; Pls.' Opp'n Mot. Summ. J. (Opp'n MSJ) 2:12-20, ECF No. 114; Karr Dep. 9:19-10:5; Breen Dep. 31:17-34:2, 34:14; Evans Dep. 25:20-26:11. If an officer arrives early to submit an HTO request form,MCSP does not monitor the officers' location or activity and does not require they perform any routine duties. UMF no. 61. At the same time, it does not allow the use of books or cell phones during this time, if the officer stays on the property. Evans Dep. 35:7-15; Breen Dep. 50:20-24; Karr Dep. 98:11-99:3. Officers may exit the secured perimeter and return to their cars before beginning a shift, although most do not. UMF nos. 57, 60; King Decl. Ex. 60, passim; Karr Dep. 97:22-98:7. Emergencies may arise, and officers may be required to respond while off-duty, but MCSP policy directs officers to report any time spent responding to emergencies for compensation.4 UMF no. 62. The parties dispute the frequency of these emergencies. See id. The prison suggests they are "rare," and the officers suggest they must respond "many times." Id. In addition, if an emergency occurs, officers may not leave the secured perimeter. Quezada Dep. 18:7-21.
Officers who arrive early to submit an HTO request form typically walk from the watch office to the program office, where they wait to sign an "FLSA sheet," a timesheet. UMF no. 56. Regardless of whether an officer arrives early to submit an HTO request form, officers must sign the same FLSA sheet before every shift. Id. no. 56; Karr Dep. 45:23-46:1. Officers do not fill out this sheet; it reflects each shift's start time before an officer signs it, and an officer does not receive additional compensation by signing the sheet early unless specifically hired to arrive early. Karr Dep. 53:3-17. The sheets are usually available about ten or fifteen minutes before a shift begins. UMF no. 58. After signing an FLSA sheet, officers typically walk to their posts, relieve the officer from the previous shift, collect gear, and exchange any information about fights, emergencies, and similar topics. Karr Dep. 19:12-21:10; Stewart Dep. 46:19-47:23.
Ryan Young initiated this action in September of 2011. Compl. ECF No. 1. He alleged the HTO request process violates the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219, because the process leaves him and other officers no choice but to arrive at work atleast thirty minutes early whenever they submit an HTO request. Compl. at 6:8-26; Am. Compl. ¶¶ 13-15. They argue the practical circumstances of their employment interact with the HTO...
To continue reading
Request your trial