Opinion ID: 567207
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Back wages

Text: 21 Finally, defendants argue that the district court erred by granting summary judgment because there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding the accuracy of payroll records relied on by the Secretary in calculating back wages owed by defendants. In the affidavit filed in support of the Secretary's motion for summary judgment, the compliance officer who investigated this case states that she reviewed the payroll records produced by the defendants for the period of April 1985 to December 1987 and calculated the back wages due based on the records. Defendants contend that the affidavit of Schubiner along with statements of two Elliott Travel employees submitted in support of defendants' response to the motion for summary judgment place in question the accuracy of payroll records relied on by the Secretary. Defendants assert that they should be given an opportunity to show at trial that the weekly hours worked by employees claiming wrongful overtime payments were not properly represented to the Secretary. See Duchon v. Cajon Co., 791 F.2d 43 (6th Cir.1986). 22 Schubiner states in his affidavit that he has learned through conversations with a number of Defendant's employees that many of the employees of Defendant have been regularly and consistently cheating on their time cards.... Schubiner further states that because of the persuasive cheating and falsification, employees should be subjected to examination and cross-examination during a trial to determine whether the payroll records accurately reflect the hours worked by the employees. The unsworn statements of the two employees are virtually identical and state that for the period of September 12, 1988, to November 23, 1988, these employees submitted inaccurate time cards. 23 We hold that there is no genuine issue of material fact regarding the accuracy of the records relied on by the Secretary. Summary judgment for the Secretary was appropriate because defendants failed to present admissible evidence to defeat the Secretary's properly supported motion for summary judgment. Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e), affidavits submitted in opposition to a summary judgment motion 'shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein.'  Monks v. General Elec. Co., 919 F.2d 1189, 1192 (6th Cir.1990). Affidavits composed of hearsay and opinion evidence do not satisfy Rule 56(e) and must be disregarded. State Mutual Life Assurance Co. v. Deer Creek Park, 612 F.2d 259, 264 (6th Cir.1979). Because Schubiner's affidavit consists only of hearsay statements regarding falsification of time cards by employees, it must be disregarded. Similarly, the unsworn statements of the two employees offered by defendants must be disregarded because a court may not consider unsworn statements when ruling on a motion for summary judgment. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158 n. 17, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608 n. 17, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970); Gordon v. Watson, 622 F.2d 120, 123 (5th Cir.1980). Furthermore, the unsworn statements are irrelevant because they relate to conduct occurring during the period of September 1988 to November 1988, while the back pay period at issue in this case involves the period from April 1985 to December 1987.