Fair Labor Standards Act

THIS CASEBOOK contains a selection of U. S. Court of Appeals decisions that analyze, interpret and apply provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Volume 1 of the casebook covers the District of Columbia Circuit and the First through the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. * * * Under the FLSA, an employer must pay overtime compensation to its non-exempt employees who work more than forty hours a week. Cleveland v. City of Elmendorf, 388 F.3d 522, 526 (5th Cir. 2004). In contrast, independent contractors are not entitled to overtime under the FLSA. See 29 U. S. C. § 207(a)(1) ("[N]o employer shall employ any of his employees... for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives [overtime] compensation[.]" (emphasis added)); Parrish, 917 F.3d at 379 (explaining that to make a prima facie case for unpaid overtime, a plaintiff must prove, inter alia, that "there existed an employer-employee relationship during the unpaid overtime periods claimed"). In addition, the FLSA describes various types of exempt employees who are excluded from the overtime requirement. See 29 U. S. C. §§ 207, 213. Faludi v. US Shale Solutions, LLC, 950 F. 3d 269 (5th Cir. 2020). * * * The FLSA exempts from the overtime requirement "any employee employed in a bona fide executive ... capacity." 29 U. S. C. § 213(a)(1). The employer bears the burden of proving that exemption by a preponderance of the evidence. A required element of the exemption is that the employee be one "[w]ho has the authority to hire or fire other employees or whose suggestions and recommendations as to the hiring, firing, advancement, promotion or any other change of status of other employees are given particular weight." 29 C. F. R. § 541.100(a)(4). The regulations illuminate what "particular weight" means. See id. § 541.105. Relevant factors include "[1] whether it is part of the employee's job duties to make such suggestions and recommendations; [2] the frequency with which such suggestions and recommendations are made or requested; and [3] the frequency with which the employee's suggestions and recommendations are relied upon." Id. Generally, the suggestions "must pertain to employees whom the executive customarily and regularly directs." Id. "[O]ccasional suggestion[s]" regarding a coworker don't count. Id. But the employee's suggestions can "still be deemed to have 'particular weight' even if a higher level manager's recommendation has more importance and even if the employee does not have authority to make the ultimate decision." Id. Miller v. Travis County, Texas, 953 F. 3d 817 (5th Cir. 2020).