# Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt

Note: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
HELIX ENERGY SOLUTIONS GROUP, INC., ET AL. v. HEWITT CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT No. 21–984. Argued October 12, 2022—Decided February 22, 2023
“An employee will be considered to be paid on a ‘salary basis’ … if the employee regularly receives each pay period on a weekly, or less frequent basis, a predetermined amount constituting all or part of the employee’s compensation, which amount is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of the work performed. Subject to [certain exceptions], an exempt employee must receive the full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work without regard to the number of days or hours worked.”
Second, the court held that “daily-rate” workers can qualify as paid on a salary basis only through the “special rule” of §541.604(b), which focuses on workers whose compensation is “computed on an hourly, a daily or a shift basis.” Because Hewitt’s compensation concededly did not satisfy §604(b)’s conditions, the court concluded that Hewitt, although highly paid, was not exempt from the FLSA. Reaching the opposite conclusion, a dissenting opinion determined that Hewitt’s compensation satisfied the salary basis test of §602(a) and that §604(b) is not applicable to employees who fall within the HCE rule.
Held: Hewitt was not an executive exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay guarantee; daily-rate workers, of whatever income level, qualify as paid on a salary basis only if the conditions set out in §541.604(b) are met. Pp. 7–20.
(a) The critical question here is whether Hewitt was paid on a salary basis under §602(a). A worker may be paid on a salary basis under either §602(a) or §604(b). But Helix acknowledges that Hewitt’s compensation did not satisfy §604(b)’s conditions. And the Court concludes that Helix did not pay Hewitt on a salary basis as defined in §602(a), a conclusion that follows from the text and the structure of the regulations. Pp. 7–17.
(2) The broader regulatory structure—in particular, the role of §604(b)—confirms the Court’s reading of §602(a). Section §604(b) lays out a second path for a compensation scheme to meet the salary-basis requirement. And that path is all about daily, hourly, or shift rates. An employee’s earnings, §604(b) provides, “may be computed on” those shorter bases without “violating the salary basis requirement” so long as an employer “also” provides a guarantee of weekly payment approximating what the employee usually earns. Section 604(b) thus speaks directly to when daily and hourly rates are “consistent with the salary basis concept.” 69 Fed. Reg. 22184. Reading §602(a) also to cover daily- and hourly-rate employees would subvert §604(b)’s strict conditions on when their pay counts as a “salary.” By contrast, when read as limited to weekly-rate employees, §602(a) works in tandem with §604(b), with §604(b) taking over where §602(a) leaves off.
(b) The Court’s reading of the relevant regulations properly concludes this case. Helix urges the Court to consider supposed policy consequences of that reading, but even the most formidable policy arguments cannot overcome a clear textual directive. See BP p.l.c. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 593 U. S. ___, ___. And anyway, Helix’s appeal to consequences appears less than formidable in the context of the FLSA’s regulatory scheme. Helix’s complaint about “windfalls” for high earners fails, as the HCE rule itself reflects Congress’s choice not to set a simple income level as the test for exemption. As to Helix’s cost-based objections, the whole point of the salary-basis test is to preclude employers from paying workers neither a true salary nor overtime. So too, Helix’s complaints about retroactive liability lack force because the salary-basis test is not novel, but rather traces back to the FLSA’s beginnings. Pp. 17–20.
15 F. 4th 289, affirmed.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
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