Navarro v. Encino Motorcars, LLC, 845 F.3d 925 (9th Cir. 2017)
An amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) exempts from its overtime requirements “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements.” The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) subsequently issued an opinion letter and amended its Field Operations Handbook to state that service advisors also are exempt from overtime under the statute. However, in 2011, the DOL issued a new rule that limited the exemption only to employees who sell automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, thus giving service advisors a right to overtime under the FLSA. In this opinion, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held (following remand from the United States Supreme Court) that service advisors do not fall within the exemption from the FLSA’s overtime-compensation requirement.