Opinion ID: 1450589
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Bellevue Exercised Sufficient Formal and Functional Control Over Barfield's Work to Qualify as her Joint Employer .(1) Bellevue's Formal Control Over Barfield's Work

Text: The traditional four-factor test set forth in Carter v. Dutchess Community College, 735 F.2d at 12, for determining when an entity exercises sufficient formal control over a worker to be that worker's employer under the FLSA, strongly indicates that Bellevue should be deemed Barfield's joint employer as a matter of law. Bellevue had the undisputed power to hire and fire at will agency employees referred to work on hospital premises; Bellevue supervised and controlled agency employees' on-site work schedules and conditions of employment; and Bellevue maintained employment records confirming referred workers' certifications and the shifts they worked. The fact that the referral agencies themselves may have exercised ultimate authority in these areas does not alter the fact that Bellevue also exercised some authority which helps establish the economic reality of its status as a joint employer. See id.; see also Herman v. RSR Sec. Servs. Ltd., 172 F.3d at 139 (observing that joint employer's exercise of limited or occasional control did not remove employment relationship from protections of the FLSA). In this case there is no question that Bellevue maintained employment records on the matter most relevant to overtime obligations under the FLSA: the hours worked at the hospital by temporary employees. Bellevue's apparent failure to organize these records in a way that readily alerted it to when an employee referred by multiple agencies, such as Barfield, worked more than 40 hours in a given week, does not alter the fact that, for whatever hours Barfield worked, the first, second, and fourth Carter factors all strongly support Bellevue's status as Barfield's joint employer. [7] Only the third Carter factor, relating to the determination of the rate and method of a worker's payment, is inconclusive. There is no question that Barfield was paid directly by the referral agencies in an amount set by them, which was less than what Bellevue paid the agencies for her services. Nevertheless, Bellevue did not lack total control over Barfield's pay. The fact that Bellevue calculated the hours Barfield worked and that it then paid the agencies an hourly rate for those hours, so that the agencies, in turn, paid Barfield an hourly rate for the exact same hours, indicates that Bellevue exerted some control over Barfield's pay. Certainly, Bellevue's calculations conclusively determined the number of hours for which Barfield would be paid. Further, the hourly rate Bellevue paid the referral agencies effectively set a cap on the hourly rate that the agencies would pay Barfield. Whether formal control can be determined as a matter of law in this case based on three Carter factors admitting no other conclusion and one factor that does not tilt decisively either way is something we need not here decide. Cf. Zheng v. Liberty Apparel Co., 355 F.3d at 77 (noting, in discussing functional control, that summary judgment may be granted to plaintiffs on FLSA claim even when isolated factors point against imposing joint liability). The record in this case established Bellevue's functional control over Barfield's work as a matter of law.