Matteo Brunozzi v. Cable Communications, Inc.Matteo Brunozzi v. Cable Communications, Inc.
DORSEY, District Judge:
Matteo Brunozzi and Casey McCormick worked as technicians for Cable Communications, Inc. (CCI) installing cable television and internet services. They filed separate lawsuits against CCI alleging that the company‘s compensation plan violates the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),
I. Background
A. Technician work and pay
CCI employs technicians to install cable television and internet services for Comcast customers. McCormick worked for CCI as a technician for almost one year. Brunozzi was similarly employed by CCI for approximately five months. The unchal
CCI guarantees that its technicians will earn at least the statutory minimum wage and pays them on a piece-work basis. This means that the technician is paid a fixed rate for each piece of work (i.e., task) that he completes.1 CCI‘s technicians sign a document entitled “Technician Pay Rate Program.” The agreement states that the technician‘s gross earnings are the “[t]otal amount billed to the company by the employee for Piece Rate jobs completed in the pay period plus any bonus received....” 2 It does not explain CCI‘s method for calculating the technicians’ pay, but the parties mostly agree about how that is accomplished.
CCI begins by calculating the technician‘s “Piece Rate Total” for the week, which is the total value of the piece-work tasks performed by him that week minus any adjustments made for incomplete work or similar reasons. If the technician worked over 40 hours, CCI divides the Piece Rate Total by the total number of hours worked to calculate his “average hourly” rate of pay for that week.3 This hourly rate is then divided by two, and the resulting quotient is multiplied by the number of overtime hours the technician worked that week to arrive at the technician‘s base overtime pay—his “Piece Rate OT Premium.”
CCI next calculates whether the technician has earned a “Production Bonus” by dividing the Piece Rate Total by 60, multiplying the quotient by 70, and subtracting from that product his Piece Rate Total and any Piece Rate OT Premium. Finally, if the technician earned a Production Bonus and worked overtime, CCI calculates the overtime due on the bonus—the Production Bonus OT Premium—by dividing the Production Bonus by the total number of hours worked in the week, dividing the resulting quotient by two, and multiplying that quotient by the number of overtime hours worked in the week. A technician‘s pay each week is his Piece Rate Total plus—to the extent that they are earned—Piece Rate OT Premium, Production Bonus, and Production Bonus OT Premium.
B. Procedural history of the technicians’ lawsuits
Brunozzi filed his complaint in state court alleging that CCI violated: (1) Oregon‘s overtime regulations4; (2) the FLSA‘s overtime regulations; (3) Oregon‘s wage-claim- and whistleblowing-discrimination regulations; and (4) Oregon‘s wage-payment-on-termination regulations. After CCI removed the case to federal court, the parties filed cross-motions for summary
McCormick filed his complaint in state court alleging that CCI violated: (1) Oregon‘s overtime regulations; (2) the FLSA‘s overtime regulations; (3) Oregon‘s wage-payment-on-termination regulations; (4) the Oregon Family Medical Leave Act; (5) Oregon‘s disability-discrimination regulations; and (6) wrongful termination under Oregon common law. After CCI removed the case to federal court, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment: the company sought judgment on all of McCormick‘s claims, and he sought judgment on his FLSA overtime-violation and Oregon wage-payment-on-termination claims. The district court entered judgment in favor of the company on McCormick‘s FLSA and Oregon wage-payment-on-termination claims. Then the district court entered final judgment under FRCP 54(b) on those claims. McCormick timely appealed.
II. Standard of Review
A district court‘s decision to grant summary judgment is reviewed de novo. Ctr. for Bio-Ethical Reform, Inc. v. Los Angeles Cty. Sheriff Dep‘t, 533 F.3d 780, 786 (9th Cir. 2008). When the parties file cross-motions for summary judgment, “we review each motion ... separately, giving the nonmoving party for each motion the benefit of all reasonable inferences.” Id. “When the underlying facts are not in dispute, th[is] court‘s only function is to determine whether the district court correctly applied the law.” Szajer v. City of Los Angeles, 632 F.3d 607, 610 (9th Cir. 2011) (citing Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. Thompson, 363 F.3d 1013, 1019 (9th Cir. 2004)). “We review the district court‘s interpretation of state law, including state statutes, de novo.” Wetzel v. Lou Ehlers Cadillac Group Long Term Disability Ins. Program, 222 F.3d 643, 646 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc) (citing In re McLinn, 739 F.2d 1395, 1397-98 (9th Cir. 1984) (en banc)).
III. Discussion
A. The technicians’ FLSA overtime-violation claims
1. Overtime pay requirements under the FLSA
“Congress enacted the FLSA in 1938 with the goal of ‘protect[ing] all covered workers from substandard wages and oppressive working hours.‘” Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 567 U.S. 142, 132 S.Ct. 2156, 2162, 183 L.Ed.2d 153 (2012) (alteration in original) (quoting Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight Sys., Inc., 450 U.S. 728, 739, 101 S.Ct. 1437, 67 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981)). Among other things, the FLSA requires “employers to compensate employees for hours in excess of 40 per week at a rate of 1 1/2 times the employees’ regular wages.” Id. (citing
Although not defined in the FLSA, the Supreme Court has interpreted “regular rate” to mean “the hourly rate actually paid the employee for the normal, non-overtime workweek for which he is employed.” Id. (citing Walling v. Helmerich & Payne, Inc., 323 U.S. 37, 40, 65 S.Ct. 11, 89 L.Ed. 29 (1944)); Parth v. Pomona Valley Hosp. Med. Ctr., 630 F.3d 794, 799 (9th Cir. 2010). “The regular rate by its very nature must reflect all payments [that] the parties have agreed shall be received regularly during the work week, exclusive of overtime payments.” Id. In determining the statutory regular rate, “[w]e must look ‘not to contract nomenclature’ but to all payments, wages, piece work rates, bonuses, or things of value” that form “part of the normal weekly income” of the employee. Walling v. Alaska Pac. Consol. Min. Co., 152 F.2d 812, 815 (9th Cir. 1945). “The ‘regular rate’ of pay under the [FLSA] cannot be left to a declaration by the parties as to what is to be treated as the regular rate for an employee; it must be drawn from what happens under the employment contract.”
For employees who are paid “on a piece-rate basis, the regular hourly rate of pay is computed by adding together total earnings for the workweek from piece rates and all other sources (such as production bonuses) and any sums paid for waiting time or other hours worked (except statutory exclusions).”
2. Comparing the FLSA‘s requirements with CCI‘s pay plan
The technicians argue that CCI‘s pay plan allows it to skirt the full burden of the FLSA‘s overtime pay requirement. The fault, they say, lies with the Production Bonus, which is designed to decrease in proportion to an increase in the number of overtime hours worked. CCI responds that its plan is legally sound because the FLSA does not regulate bonus amounts and the technicians are paid their piece-rate wages plus overtime premiums at 1/2 their regular rate as required by
The crux of the issue is whether CCI‘s plan properly calculates a technician‘s statutory regular rate. To determine this, we must first determine what the parties agreed a technician is to be paid in a normal, non-overtime workweek. See Youngerman-Reynolds, 325 U.S. at 424, 65 S.Ct. 1242. We then examine if CCI divides that sum by the total number of hours worked in the workweek to determine a technician‘s regular hourly rate for that week. See
The employment contract states that during a normal, non-overtime workweek, a technician will receive the total value of the piece-work tasks that he completed—his Piece Rate Total—plus a Production Bonus in the amount of 1/6 his Piece Rate Total.5 Because the Production Bonus is “a portion of regular wages [that] the [technician] is entitled to receive under his regular wage contract[,]” it is not a true bonus as defined by the Department of Labor
But that is not what CCI does during weeks when a technician works overtime. Instead, CCI reduces the Production Bonus paid during a regular forty-hour workweek by the amount of overtime premium that it calculates is due to the technician on his Piece Rate Total. Because a “bonus” of 1/6 the technician‘s Piece Rate Total forms part of the technician‘s income in a normal, non-overtime week, diminishing or eliminating that “bonus” results in the technician being paid at a reduced hourly rate during weeks when he works overtime. An agreement, practice, or device that lowers the hourly rate during statutory overtime hours or weeks when statutory overtime is worked is expressly prohibited under the regulations promulgated by the DOL interpreting the FLSA.6 The regulations state that “the parties cannot lawfully agree that the rate” that is “applicable to a particular type of work” “shall be lower merely because the work is performed during the statutory overtime hours, or during a week in which statutory overtime is worked.”
The diminishing “bonus” device in CCI‘s pay plan causes it to miscalculate the technicians’ regular hourly rate during weeks when they work overtime and allows CCI to pay the technicians less during those weeks. We thus hold that CCI‘s pay plan violates the FLSA‘s overtime provisions, and we reverse the district court‘s orders granting summary judgment in CCI‘s favor on the technicians’ FLSA claims.
B. The technicians’ claims alleging violations of ORS 652.140
Oregon Revised Statute section 652.140(1) requires employers to pay “all wages earned and unpaid at the time of discharge” by “the end of the first business day after the discharge or termination.” The district court found that CCI‘s pay plan did not violate either Oregon law or the FLSA, so it concluded that the technicians’ ORS 652.140 claims “fall away” and, thus, entered judgment in favor of CCI on those claims. Because we conclude that CCI‘s pay plan violates the FLSA‘s overtime provisions, we reverse the district court‘s order granting summary judgment in CCI‘s favor on the technicians’ claims under
Oregon law prohibits a private employer from retaliating against an employee who “has in good faith reported information that the employee believes is evidence of a violation of a state or federal law, rule[,] or regulation.”
The record reflects that Brunozzi verbally complained to his immediate supervisors on several occasions that he was not being properly compensated for overtime. Brunozzi‘s last complaint came two days before he was terminated, when he told his supervisor that he would not work on Saturday, April 5, 2014, “Because I‘m not being paid overtime, as far as I can tell.” Because the district court interpreted “reported” in ORS 659A.199 to mean reports only to authorities that are external to the employer, it found that Brunozzi‘s complaints to his supervisors did not constitute protected activity under the statute and entered judgment against him on his retaliation claim. Brunozzi argues that the district court erred when it interpreted ORS 659A.199‘s “reported” to include only reports made to external authorities. We agree.
The legislature did not define the term “reported” as it is used in ORS 659A.199, and no Oregon state court has interpreted that term in the context of this statute. Our role when interpreting a state statute as a matter of first impression is to “determine what meaning the state‘s highest court would give to the law.” Bass v. Cty. of Butte, 458 F.3d 978, 981 (9th Cir. 2006). “Thus, we must follow the state‘s rules of statutory interpretation.” Id.
Under Oregon law, “[t]he first step [involves] an examination of text and context.” State v. Gaines, 346 Or. 160, 206 P.3d 1042, 1050-51 (2009) (en banc). In the second step, “[t]he court will consult [proffered legislative history] after examining text and context, even if the court does not perceive an ambiguity in the statute‘s text, where that legislative history appears useful to the court‘s analysis.” Id. at 1050. Oregon places legislative history “on a par with [the] text and context” of the statute. Id. at 1049. “However, the extent of the court‘s consideration of that history, and the evaluative weight that the court gives it, is for the court to determine.” Id. at 1050-51. In the third and final step, “[i]f the legislature‘s intent remains unclear after examining text, context, and legislative history, the court may resort to general maxims of statutory construction to aid in resolving the remaining uncertainty.” Id. at 1051.
Textually, ORS 659A.199 is broad and places no limit on the individual to whom the employee‘s information must be “reported.” The statute does not provide much context other than to suggest that it is designed to safeguard an employee who, “in good faith[,]” has “reported information” that he “believes is evidence of a violation of a state or federal law, rule, or regulation.” These clues do not guide us toward either party‘s interpretation, so we must consider other cannons of construction.
If the legislature has not defined a statutory term, Oregon courts “ordinarily look to the plain meaning of a
According to that dictionary, “[t]he ordinary meaning of the verb ‘report’ is ‘to give an account of: NARRATE, RELATE, TELL.‘” Roberts v. Oregon Mut. Ins. Co., 242 Or.App. 474, 255 P.3d 628, 632-33 (2011) (quoting Webster‘s Third New Int‘l Dictionary 1925 (unabridged ed. 2002)). Oregon courts recognize that “the context in which the word is used adds additional meaning to the definition.” Id. at 633. Examples of other uses of the verb “report” are “to ‘make a charge of misconduct against [another]’ or ‘to make known to the proper authorities: give notification of.‘” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting Webster‘s at 1925). But the context of ORS 659A.199 does not provide additional meaning to make either alternative use of “report” applicable. C.f. id. (discussing that ORS 659A.230(1) provides context of criminal activity, complaint, investigation, and trial and civil proceeding). We initially conclude from the text and context of ORS 659A.199 that the Oregon legislature intended to use the ordinary meaning of the verb “report” in this statute: to narrate, relate, tell. This interpretation supports Brunozzi‘s argument that the legislature intended ORS 659A.199 to cover both external and internal reports of violations.
The second step of Oregon‘s statutory-interpretation methodology is considering pertinent legislative history that a party may proffer. Gaines, 206 P.3d at 1050. The district court was not required to consider the legislative history of ORS 659A.199 because no party proffered any portion of that history to it.
The proffered legislative history shows that ORS 659A.199 had its genesis in House Bill 3162, which was introduced to the Oregon Legislative Assembly during the 2009 Regular Session.7 The bill‘s chief sponsor was Representative Stiegler, and it was referred to the House Business and Labor Committee, which held a public hearing on the measure on April 10, 2009.8 During that hearing, Rep. Stiegler stated that H.B. 3162 puts “private employees on equal footing with public employees at this stage of the game who already have a whistleblowing provision in ORS 659A.”9 She explained that H.B. 3162 “levels the playing field for the private employee” who
Numerous people testified in favor of H.B. 3162, including two OTLA attorneys who stated that the bill was necessary because Oregon law did not protect private employees who internally report legal violations to their employers like it protects public whistleblowers.13 And several Oregonians who had been terminated after they internally reported legal violations to their employers likewise testified in favor of the bill.14
We find that the proffered legislative history is useful to answer the question before us. Having examined the text, context, and pertinent legislative history, we find that the Oregon legislature intended the term “reported” in ORS 659A.199 to mean a report of information to either an external or internal authority. We therefore reverse the district court‘s order granting summary judgment in CCI‘s favor on Brunozzi‘s retaliation claim under
D. Brunozzi‘s retaliation claim under ORS 652.355
Brunozzi‘s final challenge is to the district court‘s entry of summary judgment on his claim that CCI violated
Brunozzi relies on Brown v. American Property Management Corp., 167 Or.App. 53, 1 P.3d 1051 (2000), to argue that Ore
But whether the employee had either filed or discussed filing a wage claim within the meaning of
Nor does De Bay v. Wild Oats Market, Inc., 244 Or.App. 443, 260 P.3d 700 (2011), relied upon by the district court, control this inquiry. The employee in De Bay argued “that the allegations of his complaint [we]re sufficient to state a claim for common-law wrongful discharge because they allege[d] facts from which it can be shown that he was terminated for exercising important societal obligations and rights recognized in ...
With no Oregon state-court opinion deciding whether complaints like Brunozzi‘s constitute a “wage claim” under
Because this is a circular definition—a “wage claim” is “an employee‘s claim“—and the Oregon legislature has not further defined “claim” in this context, we look to Webster‘s, which defines the noun “claim” to mean “an authoritative or challenging request: demand....” Webster‘s Third New Int‘l Dictionary 414 (unabridged ed. 1986). It gives other meanings for “claim,” but neither the text nor context of the statute indicates that any meaning is more applicable than the ordinary one. Having examined the statute‘s text and context, we find that the Oregon legislature intended “wage claim” in
Applying this definition to the facts of this case leads us to conclude that part of Brunozzi‘s claim for retaliation under
Brunozzi‘s refusal to work additional overtime unless he was paid an overtime rate for those hours was a demand for future payment and does not qualify as a wage claim under Oregon law. See Perri, 66 P.3d at 538-40 & n.8 (concluding “that a wage claim for purposes of ORS 652.320(9) [renumbered to subsection (7) when the statute was amended in 2001] and
REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.