Power Tool Specialist May Proceed With Unpaid Overtime Claims
NEW YORK - The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 5 reinstated a power tool company retail specialist's claims that he regularly worked off the clock and was not compensated for that time, after finding the employer may have done so at his manager's direction (Greg Kuebel, et al. v. Black & Decker Inc., United States, No. 10-2273, 2nd Cir.).
Plaintiff was hired by Black & Decker Inc. (B&D) in September 2006 to work as a retail specialist. He was required to use a B&D-issued personal digital assistant (PDA) to record entry and exit times at his assigned Home Depot stores. The "Beacon" hours, time spent in the stores, were electronically communicated to Kuebel's managers when he synchronized his PDA with B&D's server once he was home. B&D expected retail specialists to synch their PDAs 6 times per week.
When at home, in addition to synching his PDA, Kuebel also read and responded to company emails, checked his voice mail, printed and reviewed sales reports, organized point-of-purchase materials, made display signs, took online training courses and loaded and unloaded his car. B&D expected those "administrative" duties to take about 30 minutes per day. Kuebel claimed that he spent between 30 minutes and an hour per day on those activities. B&D instructs its retail specialists to record the time they spend working at home, and its policy is to pay them for that time.
In 2004, B&D implemented a policy of paying retail specialists for time spent driving to their first Home Depot store of the day and for time spent driving home from the last store of the day, to the extent that travel was in excess of 60 miles for either leg. Some managers, including Kuebel's, instructed their employees that commute time to and from home was compensable to the extent it was for travel in excess of 60 minutes in duration, rather than 60 miles in length. Kuebel was compensated according to the policy stated by his manager.
Following his termination for poor performance, dishonesty and falsification of company records, Kuebel sued B&D in the U.S. District Court for Western District of New York, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the New York Labor Law. The District Court granted B&D summary judgment on the commute time claims, finding that B&D's practice complied with the FLSA and that administrative duties performed by Kuebel at home did not render the entirety of his commute time compensable.
The Second Circuit vacated the grant of summary judgment for B&D on the off-the-clock claims. "A contrary conclusion would undermine the remedial goals of the FLSA, as it would permit an employer to obligate its employees to record their own time, have its managers unofficially pressure them not to record overtime, and then, when an employee sues for unpaid overtime, assert that his claim fails because his timesheets do not show any overtime." The appellate court upheld the dismissal of Kuebel's commute time claims, finding that they failed on the merits.
(Abstract of Article from LexisNexis® Mealey's™ Litigation Report Employment Law, Vol. 7, Issue #10, May 2011).