Source: http://openjurist.org/370/f3d/446/walton-v-greenbrier-ford-incorporated
Timestamp: 2013-12-11 08:27:29
Document Index: 801272439

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 201', '§ 213', '§ 207', '§ 207', '§ 213', '§ 207']

370 F3d 446 Walton v. Greenbrier Ford Incorporated | OpenJurist
370 F. 3d 446 - Walton v. Greenbrier Ford Incorporated	Home370 f3d 446 walton v. greenbrier ford incorporated
370 F3d 446 Walton v. Greenbrier Ford Incorporated 370 F.3d 446
Theadore Carl WALTON, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant,v.GREENBRIER FORD, INCORPORATED, t/a Cavalier Ford, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 02-2432.
Argued: January 23, 2004.
Decided: May 28, 2004.
ARGUED: Carl W. Isbrandtsen, Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Appellant. Amy Jacqueline Inge, Durrette Bradshaw, P.L.C., for Appellee.
Before WIDENER, MOTZ, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge GREGORY wrote the opinion, in which Judge WIDENER and Judge MOTZ joined.
Theadore Carl Walton, Jr., appeals from a district court order granting summary judgment for his former employer, Greenbrier Ford, Inc., trading as "Cavalier Ford," on his Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., claim for overtime pay and his state law breach of contract claim. We find that the district court correctly determined that Walton fell within FLSA's automobile dealership workers exemption, 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(10)(A), and hold Walton is not entitled to overtime pay. Additionally, Walton has failed to establish that he had an enforceable employment contract with Cavalier Ford, thus we conclude that he was an at-will employee, terminable subject to reasonable notice. We affirm the district court on both issues presented.
Walton is a former federal employee whose work-related injuries forced him to discontinue his employment at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Thereafter, the federal Office of Workers' Compensation Programs ("OWCP") helped Walton obtain vocational rehabilitation and training, and ultimately alternative employment at Cavalier Ford, an automobile dealership. On April 18, 2000, OWCP and Cavalier entered into an agreement, whereby OWCP would reimburse Cavalier for a percentage of Walton's wages. The agreement stated that Walton would work as a "Full-time Service Advisor beginning on April 13, 2000" and would be paid $40,000 per year. The agreement then detailed how much OWCP would reimburse Cavalier over a three-year period, and stated the re-employment subsidy would not exceed such period.
At the beginning of his employment, Walton and Cavalier Ford Service Director Jerry Banks signed a pay plan agreement stating that Walton would be paid $231.00 per week plus a commission of five percent of parts and labor gross computed individually on repair orders completed by Walton as a service advisor. The agreement guaranteed that Walton would receive $3333.33 per month ($40,000 per year), or his salary plus commission, whichever sum was greater.
Walton began his employment as a "Service Advisor" managing the Quick Lane Department, which was a new quick service operation at the dealership. Walton was to greet customers, listen to their concerns about their cars, write repair orders, follow-up on repairs, and keep customers informed about maintenance. Walton would also suggest to customers additional services that needed to be preformed and would prepare work orders. Walton worked in those capacities with Quick Lane from April 2000 to June 2001. In June 2001, he began training as a Service Advisor for all types of repair.1 Walton testified that his duties were not "a whole lot ... differen[t]" in this new capacity, and his job description did not change.
On August 8, 2001, Walton gave Cavalier a doctor's note stating he could not work more than eight hours per day. On August 16, 2001, Cavalier informed Walton that because he could no longer work the hours required of service advisors, the company would move him to a greeter position, an eight-hour per day job, paying eight dollars per hour. Walton declined this position and ceased working at Cavalier.
Walton then filed this lawsuit, asserting that under FLSA, he was owed compensation for 888.75 overtime hours, and that Cavalier Ford breached a three-year employment contract. The district court granted summary judgment for defendant on both claims. This appeal followed.
We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Bass v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 324 F.3d 761, 766 (4th Cir.2003). Summary judgment is warranted when there are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
Walton argues that he is entitled to overtime pay under FLSA for approximately 888.75 hours worked. FLSA sets forth maximum work hour limitations, requiring that an employer pay overtime at a rate of one and one half times an employee's regular hourly rate for all hours worked in excess of forty per week. 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1); see also Monahan v. County of Chesterfield, 95 F.3d 1263, 1267 (4th Cir.1996). FLSA contains an exception from § 207's overtime pay requirement for salesmen and other employees working for automobile dealerships. 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(10)(A).
Section 213(b)(10)(A) provides that § 207 does not apply to "any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, if he is employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling such vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers...." This exemption, like other FLSA exemptions, is to be narrowly construed. See Auer v. Robbins, 519 U.S. 452, 462, 117 S.Ct. 905, 137 L.Ed.2d 79 (1997). The determination of whether an employee falls within the scope of a FLSA exemption is ultimately a legal question. See Icicle Seafoods, Inc. v. Worthington, 475 U.S. 709, 713-14, 106 S.Ct. 1527, 89 L.Ed.2d 739 (1986).