Opinion ID: 409442
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Amount Due the Employees.

Text: 16 Furthermore, we agree with the Secretary that Grantham is liable for three, rather than two, years of back wages under the FLSA's statute of limitations, providing for an extra year of back wages for willful violations of the Act. 29 U.S.C. § 255(a) (1976). The district court's finding that Grantham's mistakes were not willful because they were not intentional was clearly erroneous. As we have construed the Act, a violation is willful if the employer is aware that his conduct is governed by the FLSA, A & M Consolidated, supra, at 190-91, or if he knows that the FLSA is in the picture. Coleman v. Jiffy June Farms, Inc., 458 F.2d 1139, 1142 (5th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 948, 93 S.Ct. 292, 34 L.Ed.2d 219 (1972). Grantham knew that he was governed by the Act since he had already been investigated by the Department of Labor two times and the investigator had given him detailed explanations of the Act's requirements on both occasions. Therefore, his noncompliance was willful as a matter of law. A & M Consolidated; Jiffy June Farms. In addition, there is evidence that Grantham's violation was willful in the intentional sense in light of his manipulation of the payroll records to disguise his failure to pay overtime. 17 Finally, the Secretary's calculations of the amount due the employees should form the basis of the district court's award. Using Grantham's own time records, the compliance officer reconstructed the number of actual hours worked by dividing the number of hours recorded by the regular rate of pay. The amount due could then be determined by multiplying the hours worked in excess of forty per week by one and one-half times the regular rate of pay. 18 This formula for reconstructing the hours and wages has been consistently upheld where the employer has failed to keep adequate records. Anderson v. Mount Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680, 66 S.Ct. 1187, 90 L.Ed. 1515 (1946); Marshall v. Mama's Fried Chicken, Inc., 590 F.2d 598 (5th Cir. 1979); Wirtz v. Mississippi Publishers Corp., 364 F.2d 603 (5th Cir. 1966). As the Supreme Court stated in Anderson, while an employee bears the initial burden of showing that he or she has performed work not properly compensated, he or she meets this burden by showing the amount owed through just and reasonable inference, and the employer cannot be heard to complain that the damages lack the exactness and precision of measurement that would be possible had he kept records in accordance with the requirements of § 11(c) of the Act. 328 U.S. at 688, 66 S.Ct. at 1192-1193. Grantham may demonstrate on remand where the compliance officer's calculations are inaccurate, but his evidence must be as precise as that offered by the Secretary. Claims that he kept a record of personal time in a diary which he is not now able to find will not suffice. See Wirtz v. Lieb, 366 F.2d 412 (10th Cir. 1966). 19 That part of the district court's order denying a restitutionary injunction is reversed with instructions to grant the injunction. The amount of overtime compensation to which the employees are entitled should be determined in accordance with the Secretary's amended calculations, except where Grantham is able to demonstrate that those calculations are inaccurate. 20 REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.