Case Title: Jacoby v. Arkansas Department of Education, Vocational and Technical Education Division.

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: arkansas

Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Date: 1999-07-27T00:00:00Z

Document:
Richard JACOBY, Freddie Mae Green, Curtis
Ivy, Jean Marrow, Elsie Sanchez, Evan
Sanders, George Thomas, Barbara 
Whittaker, and Shirley Williams v. 
ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Vocational
and Technical Education Division

97-310                                             ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
               Opinion delivered February 19, 1998


1.   Constitutional law -- Eleventh Amendment -- grants states immunity in
     federal court absent abrogation or waiver. -- The Eleventh Amendment
     expressly refers to the judicial power of the United States;
     it has been construed to grant the individual states immunity
     in federal court unless Congress by law abrogates that
     immunity or the state waives that immunity; the immunity of
     the states under the Eleventh Amendment has been expanded to
     exclude all suits by citizens of the same state in federal
     court.

2.   Constitutional law -- sovereign immunity -- how abrogated -- states subject
     to FLSA claims. -- Congress can only void Eleventh Amendment
     immunity by enacting law that meets two requirements: first,
     Congress must unequivocally express its intent to abrogate the
     immunity; secondly, Congress must enact the abrogating law
     pursuant to a valid exercise of authority granted it under the
     United States Constitution; with respect to this case,
     Congress clearly intended to subject states, as employers, to
     Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims in both federal courts
     and state courts.

3.   Constitutional law -- sovereign immunity -- state employers immune from
     FLSA claims in federal court. -- The United States Supreme Court
     has effectively made state employers immune from FLSA claims
     in federal court.

4.   Constitutional law -- Eleventh Amendment -- does not grant states immunity
     in their own courts. -- The Eleventh Amendment does not grant
     states immunity in their own courts; by its own terms, the
     Eleventh Amendment is limited to the judicial power of the
     United States.

5.   Constitutional law -- sovereign immunity -- Arkansas Constitution protects
     State absent waiver or consent. -- Article 5,  20, of the Arkansas
     Constitution, which provides that "[t]he State of Arkansas
     shall never be made a defendant in any of her courts," fully
     protects the State absent a waiver or consent by the State to
     be sued.

6.   Constitutional law -- Supremacy Clause -- FLSA became supreme law of land.
     -- Pursuant to the Supremacy Clause of the United States
     Constitution, when Congress enacted the FLSA, it became the
     supreme law of the land; federal law is treated as much the
     law in the States as laws passed by the state legislature; the
     FLSA states that actions may be maintained against any
     employer, including a public agency, in any federal or state
     court of competent jurisdiction.

7.   Constitutional law -- sovereign immunity -- could not impede FLSA state
     liability in state courts. -- Although the United States Supreme
     Court had struck down state liability for FLSA claims in
     federal courts, the supreme court did not deem the fact to be
     determinative of state liability in state courts; the FLSA
     remained valid law throughout the land, protecting employees
     and empowering them to enforce claims for unpaid wages, and
     state sovereign immunity could not impede it.

8.   Constitutional law -- Supremacy Clause -- uniformity consideration --
     implication for FLSA enforcement. -- There is a uniformity
     consideration inherent in the principle of supreme law of the
     land; the supreme court noted that if the matter is left to
     the individual states to determine whether state sovereign
     immunity offers state employers sufficient protection, the
     result might be a patchwork quilt of FLSA enforcement.

9.   Constitutional law -- weight of authority favored appellant employees --
     FLSA enforced in state courts through Supremacy Clause -- reversed and
     remanded. -- Declaring that the weight of authority favored
     appellant employees and that the FLSA remained to be was
     enforced against state employers only in state courts and was
     viable only by virtue of the Supremacy Clause, the supreme
     court reversed and remanded the matter.


     Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court; Marion Humphrey, Judge;
reversed and remanded.
     Lavey & Burnett, by: John L. Burnett, for appellants.
     Winston Bryant, Att'y Gen., by:  Kay J. Jackson DeMailly,
Asst. Att'y Gen., for appellee.

     Robert L. Brown, Justice.
     The appellants in this case (the employees) are hourly-paid
employees of the Vocational and Technical Education Division of the
Arkansas Department of Education (the Department).  Their complaint
is based on an allegation that the State, through the Department,
has failed to pay them for all of the time they have worked. 
Specifically, they claim that they remained on duty each day for an
eight and one-half hour shift but were paid for only eight-hour
days.
     The employees originally filed their complaint in federal
district court and alleged a violation of the Fair Labor Standards
Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C.  201-219 (1994 & Supp. I 1995).  The
Department moved to dismiss for lack of subject-matter
jurisdiction, claiming that the United States Congress could not
abrogate Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity for the Department
by enacting the FLSA pursuant to the Commerce Clause of the U.S.
Constitution.  The employees filed a voluntary nonsuit before the
motion to dismiss was decided.
     The employees next filed this action in state circuit court,
claiming once again a violation of the FLSA by the Department.  The
Department moved to dismiss based on Eleventh Amendment sovereign
immunity as set out in the U.S. Constitution and state sovereign
immunity under Article 5, Section 20 of the State Constitution. 
The Department argued that the Claims Commission had exclusive
jurisdiction over all suits against the State under Ark. Code Ann.
 19-10-204(a)(Repl. 1994).  The circuit court granted the
Department's motion to dismiss due to sovereign immunity as
provided in the State Constitution and found that the Claims
Commission was the proper forum for resolution of this matter.
     The question before this court is whether the circuit court
correctly determined that the State Constitution bars a suit
against the State when a federal claim such as one brought under
the FLSA is at issue.  A corollary issue is whether the Eleventh
Amendment immunes the State from liability in its own courts when
the federal right cannot be pursued in federal courts.  We consider
the corollary issue first.

a.   Eleventh Amendment Sovereign Immunity.
     The Eleventh Amendment reads as follows:
          The judicial power of the United States shall not be
     construed to extend to any suit in law or equity,
     commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States
     by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects
     of any Foreign State.
The Eleventh Amendment expressly refers to the judicial power of
the United States.  It has been construed to grant the individual
states immunity in federal court unless Congress by law abrogates
that immunity or the state waives that immunity.  Welch v. Texas
Dep't of Highways & Pub. Trans.,