Opinion ID: 2206061
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Is the State Required to Reduce Plaintiffs' Overtime Claim for Hours off Under its Work Schedule Adjustment Policy?

Text: The FLSA permits public employers to compensate employees for overtime hours by granting them compensatory time at the rate of one and one-half hours for each hour earned. 29 U.S.C. § 207( o )(1). This section provides in relevant part: ( o ) Compensatory time (1) Employees of a public agency which is a State, a political subdivision of a State, or an interstate governmental agency may receive, in accordance with this subsection and in lieu of overtime compensation, compensatory time off at a rate not less than one and one-half hours for each hour of employment for which overtime compensation is required by this section. (2) A public agency may provide compensatory time under paragraph (1) only  (A) pursuant to  (i) applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, memorandum of understanding, or any other agreement between the public agency and representatives of such employees; or (ii) in the case of employees not covered by subclause (i), an agreement or understanding arrived at between the employer and employee before the performance of the work.... Id. The district court found there was an agreement between the peace officers and the State reached prior to the performance of the work to compensate the peace officers with hour-to-hour compensatory time off for hours worked in excess of eight hours per day or forty hours per week at straight time. The district court further concluded this agreement substantially complied with the provisions of § 207( o ) and ordered the State to recompute the peace officers' compensatory time as if their agreement required the State to compute compensatory time at time and one-half. The district court also ordered the State to immediately cash out any hours of compensatory time accrued, but not taken, that exceeded 480 hours. See 29 U.S.C. § 207( o )(3)(A) (providing employee engaged in public safety activity may not accrue more than 480 hours of compensatory time). While we agree the district court's finding of fact is supported by substantial evidence, we disagree on the districts court's application of § 207( o ) to its findings of fact. Section 207( o ) allows a public employer to compensate an employee for overtime work with compensatory time rather than pay overtime pay as long as the following conditions are met: (1) compensatory time must be at the premium rate of not less than one and one-half hours per hour of overtime work; and (2) it must be pursuant to an agreement reached prior to the performance of the work. Moreau v. Klevenhagen, 508 U.S. 22, 26, 113 S.Ct. 1905, 1907, 123 L.Ed.2d 584, 592 (1993). The agreement between the State and the peace officers did not meet the condition that compensatory time must be at the premium rate of not less than one and one-half hours per hour of overtime work. The State's practice under this agreement was no more than paying the officers straight time for their overtime hours in the form of time off work in lieu of cash. This practice violated the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Whether in the guise of construction or otherwise, it is not within our province, function, duty, or power to alter, revise, modify, extend, rewrite, or remake an agreement by construction, or to make a new, or different, agreement for the parties. Smith v. Stowell, 256 Iowa 165, 171-172, 125 N.W.2d 795, 799 (1964). Similarly, we may not alter an agreement for the benefit of one party to the detriment of the other, or make a new agreement at the insistence of one of the parties by a process of interpretation, and relieve one of the parties from the terms of the agreement because of equitable considerations. Id. at 172, 125 N.W.2d at 799. We, therefore, must remand the case to the district court to determine the peace officers' damages consistent with this decision.