Grosswiler v. Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies, 642 F. App'x 596

Plaintiffs Devin Grosswiler and Christopher Doerner are hourly assembly workers at FNST’s Milan, Ohio plant who allege unpaid overtime under the FLSA.
FNST requires pre-approval from shift leads for work outside scheduled shifts; shift leads record such overtime for payroll.
Plaintiffs’ scheduled shift is 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. with a 30-minute unpaid lunch; plaintiffs testified they typically clocked in a few minutes early to prepare for work.
Available timecards (three months) showed clock-ins generally 3–5 minutes early (earliest 9 minutes); depositions confirmed typical early clock-ins of roughly 3–4 minutes, plus brief non-work time.
District court granted summary judgment for FNST, holding (1) the early minutes were de minimis and not compensable, and (2) plaintiffs failed to show FNST knew or should have known of uncompensated overtime because they did not follow FNST’s reporting procedures.
On appeal plaintiffs challenged only the de minimis holding and did not contest the independent district-court ground (employer notice); the Sixth Circuit affirmed based on plaintiffs’ failure to address the alternative basis for judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether minutes clocked before shift are compensable under the FLSA	Plaintiffs say they routinely worked before shift start and were unpaid for that time	FNST says the pre-shift minutes are de minimis and its policy and time records show no compensable unpaid overtime	Court held plaintiffs failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact; minutes were de minimis and plaintiffs abandoned challenge to employer-knowledge ground
Whether plaintiffs established FNST knew or should have known about unpaid overtime	Plaintiffs implied fear of retaliation prevented reporting; thus FNST should be charged with notice	FNST said its approval/reporting system and lack of notice preclude liability	District court found no evidence FNST knew or should have known; plaintiffs did not challenge this on appeal, so issue was abandoned

Moran v. Al Basit LLC, 788 F.3d 201 (6th Cir. 2015) (describes FLSA overtime pay requirement)
White v. Baptist Mem’l Health Care Corp., 699 F.3d 869 (6th Cir. 2012) (employer summary-judgment defense when employee fails to show employer knew of uncompensated overtime)
Wood v. Mid-Am. Mgmt. Corp., 192 F. App’x 378 (6th Cir. 2006) (employee must show employer knew or should have known of overtime; better to report overtime oneself)
Kuhn v. Washtenaw County, 709 F.3d 612 (6th Cir. 2013) (arguments not raised in opening brief are waived)