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U.S. Supreme Court

Case Status

Decided

Docket Number

16-911

Term

2016 Term

Lower Court Opinion

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

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Questions Presented

(1) Whether the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 207(e)(2), allows employers, when calculating the overtime rate, to exclude payments to an employee that are entirely unrelated to “his hours of employment,” as other courts of appeals have held in conflict with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit; and (2) whether the 9th Circuit's outlier “willfulness” standard, triggered whenever a non-compliant employer “was on notice of its FLSA requirements” but failed to investigate further, contravenes this court's decision in McLaughlin v. Richland Shoe Company.

Case Updates

Cert. petition denied

May 15, 2017

U.S. Chamber urges Supreme Court to repudiate anti-employer canon

March 21, 2017

The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari to expressly repudiate the purported canon that Fair Labor Standards Act exemptions must be construed narrowly against employers.

The Chamber’s brief argues that the anti-employer canon cannot be squared with the Supreme Court’s modern approach to statutory interpretation and has caused observable damages in the lower courts. The brief explains that this case is an ideal vehicle for the Court to address the ongoing validity of the anti-employer canon because the Ninth Circuit’s decision creates a circuit split and will have negative consequences for both employees and employers.

The brief was filed jointly with the National Federation of Independent Business.

Jeffrey M. Harris and Kevin M. Neylan, Jr. of Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as co-counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.

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