Amber Biziko v. Steven Van Horne, 981 F.3d 418

Amber Biziko worked as a childcare provider/assistant director at A Habitat for Learning (AHFL) and at times was paid a stipend by Loving Individuals Generating Healing Today (LIGHT) while performing the same duties at AHFL.
Defendants Steven and Michelle Van Horne run AHFL; Steven also founded LIGHT. The stipend arrangement was described as a way to avoid paying AHFL overtime.
Biziko sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), alleging unpaid overtime; a one-day jury trial returned a verdict for Biziko.
In the district court’s joint pretrial order, Defendants stipulated that AHFL and LIGHT were enterprises engaged in commerce and had annual gross volume of at least $500,000.
On appeal Defendants reversed course, arguing they were not an "enterprise engaged in commerce" and claiming that the enterprise requirement is jurisdictional.
The Fifth Circuit held the enterprise element non-jurisdictional, found Defendants forfeited (or waived) the challenge by stipulation, and affirmed the judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the FLSA enterprise-coverage requirement (29 U.S.C. § 203(s)(1)(A)) is jurisdictional	Enterprise element is non-jurisdictional and thus subject to forfeiture	Enterprise element is jurisdictional and cannot be waived or forfeited	Not jurisdictional; apply Arbaugh clear-statement rule; enterprise element is subject to forfeiture
Whether Defendants could deny enterprise coverage on appeal after stipulating in the pretrial order	Stipulation binds Defendants; challenge is forfeited or waived	Claimed they could raise the issue on appeal (as jurisdictional)	Forfeited (and possibly waived); stipulation bars appellate challenge
Whether other appellate errors were preserved and adequately briefed	Many asserted errors were unpreserved or inadequately briefed	Challenged various district-court rulings on appeal	Remaining arguments forfeited or meritless; judgment affirmed

Arbaugh v. Y&H Corp., 546 U.S. 500 (2006) (statutory coverage thresholds are nonjurisdictional unless Congress clearly says otherwise)
Chao v. Hotel Oasis, Inc., 493 F.3d 26 (1st Cir. 2007) (FLSA annual-sales component of enterprise coverage is nonjurisdictional)
Martinez v. Petrenko, 792 F.3d 173 (1st Cir. 2015) (assumed interstate-commerce component of FLSA enterprise coverage nonjurisdictional)
Minard v. ITC Deltacom Commc’ns, Inc., 447 F.3d 352 (5th Cir. 2006) (definition-section limits are substantive, not jurisdictional, post-Arbaugh)
United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725 (1993) (distinguishes forfeiture from waiver)
SeaQuest Diving, LP v. S&J Diving, Inc., 579 F.3d 411 (5th Cir. 2009) (stipulations can waive arguments on appeal)