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Fourth Circuit Weighs in on Overtime Pleadings Standard
Practical Law Legal Update w-005-6372 (Approx. 4 pages)
Fourth Circuit Weighs in on Overtime Pleadings Standard
by Practical Law Labor & Employment
| Law stated as of 31 Jan 2017 • USA (National/Federal) |
In Hall v. DIRECTV, LLC, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit addressed the degree of specificity required to state a claim for failure to pay overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and also applied the standard it articulated in Salinas v. Commercial Interiors, Inc. (a decision issued the same day) for determining whether an entity is a joint employer under the FLSA.
On January 25, 2017, in Hall v. DIRECTV, LLC, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit addressed the degree of specificity required to state a claim for failure to pay overtime wages under the FLSA, holding that to make a plausible FLSA overtime claim at the pleading stage, a plaintiff must:
- Do more to overcome a motion to dismiss than merely alleging that he worked over 40 hours a week without receiving overtime pay.
- Present sufficient facts and details about the length and frequency of his unpaid work to support a reasonable inference that:
- the employee worked more than 40 hours in a workweek; and
- the employer failed to pay the employee the required overtime premium for his overtime hours.
( (Jan. 25, 2017).)
In addition, the Fourth Circuit applied the standard it articulated in Salinas v. Commercial Interiors, Inc. (a decision also issued on January 25, 2017) for determining whether an entity is a joint employer under the FLSA. For more information on the Fourth Circuit's joint employment standard and related test as articulated in Salinas, see Legal Update, Fourth Circuit Clarifies FLSA Joint Employment Standard.
The plaintiffs worked as technicians responsible for installing and repairing satellite systems. They were employed either directly by DIRECTV or by entities that were part of DIRECTV's provider network. The technicians filed suit in federal district court alleging that DIRECTV and the other entities were joint employers and that they violated the FLSA by failing to pay them overtime wages. The district court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the claims, finding that the plaintiffs failed to allege a plausible claim for unpaid overtime wages (including failing to allege facts sufficient to establish that DIRECTV jointly employed them). The plaintiffs appealed.
The Fourth Circuit:
- Reversed the district court's grant of the defendants' motion to dismiss, and remanded.
- Applied the joint employment standard from Salinas and found that DIRECTV was a joint employer under that standard.
- Recognized the circuit split on what facts must be affirmatively pled to state an FLSA overtime claim and articulated the above standard, adopting the approach of the Ninth Circuit and other circuits (see Landers v. Quality Commc'ns, Inc., 771 F.3d 638, 645 (9th Cir. 2014); Legal Update, Ninth Circuit Clarifies FLSA Pleading Standard; see also Lundy v. Catholic Health Sys. of Long Island Inc., 711 F.3d 106, 114 (2d Cir. 2013); Davis v. Abington Mem. Hosp., 765 F.3d 236, 241–43 (3d Cir. 2014); Manning v. Bos. Med. Ctr. Corp., 725 F.3d 34, 46–47 (1st Cir. 2013)).
The overtime pleading standard articulated by the Fourth Circuit:
- Does not require a plaintiff to identify specific workweeks in which he was not paid overtime for overtime hours worked.
- Can be met by the plaintiff estimating:
- the length of his average workweek during the period he did not receive overtime pay;
- the average rate at which he was paid during that period;
- the amount of overtime wages plaintiff believes he is owed; and
- any other facts supporting a finding that the plaintiff's overtime claim is plausible.