Exempt Employees

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Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. ___, 143 S. Ct. 2279 (2023)

Gerald Groff, an Evangelical Christian, took a mail delivery job with the USPS at a time when postal service employees were was not required to work on Sundays.  However, when the USPS began facilitating Sunday deliveries for Amazon, he was called upon to work Sundays, which ultimately resulted in his resignation from his…

Kizer v. Tristar Risk Mgmt., 13 Cal. App. 5th 830 (2017)

Plaintiffs Valerie Kizer and Sharal Williams filed this putative class action, alleging their former employer had misclassified them and other similarly situated claims examiners as exempt from overtime. The trial court denied the class certification motion on the ground that plaintiffs had failed to show they had worked days or hours that would…

Kao v. Joy Holiday, 2017 WL 2590653 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017)

Ming-Hsiang Kao was employed by Joy Holiday (a travel tour company) initially performing IT-related duties and then eventually as its office manager. While he was still in Taiwan, Kao worked with Jessy Lin (one of the owners of Joy Holiday) as a tour organizer. Kao later arrived in California on a tourist visa…

Batze v. Safeway, Inc., 10 Cal. App. 5th 440 (2017)

Gary Batze, et al., brought this lawsuit against their employer Safeway/Vons for failure to pay overtime wages. The employees alleged that they worked non-managerial tasks that rendered them non-exempt employees. After weeks of trial testimony, the trial court determined that the employees were engaged for more than 50 percent of their work week in…

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…

Morales v. 22nd Dist. Agricultural Ass’n, 1 Cal. App. 5th 504 (2016)

Jose Luis Morales and 177 other similarly situated plaintiffs sued their employer under Cal. Labor Code § 510 and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) for failure to pay them overtime. Plaintiffs’ employer is a California agency that owns and manages the Del Mar Fairgrounds and the Del Mar Horsepark. Plaintiffs…

Morris v. Ernst & Young, LLP, 2016 WL 4433080 (9th Cir. 2016)

As a condition of employment, Stephen Morris and Kelly McDaniel were required to sign agreements not to join with other employees in bringing legal claims via arbitration against their employer. Morris and McDaniel filed a class and collective action against the company, alleging they had been misclassified as employees exempt from overtime…

Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 579 U.S. ___, 2016 WL 3369424 (2016)

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.” Later, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued an opinion letter and amended its Field Operations Handbook to state that service advisors also…

On April 4, 2016, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 3, which will increase California’s minimum wage annually, reaching $15 per hour for employers with at least 26 employees by January 1, 2022.  This bill enacts the highest statewide minimum wage in the nation, on par with New York, which enacted a bill mandating a $15 minimum wage last week.

Governor Brown opposed the bill…