Opinion ID: 780695
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Calculation of FLSA Overtime Compensation

Text: 31 The plaintiffs' challenge to the district court's calculation of the plaintiffs' FLSA claims for overtime compensation raises a question of statutory interpretation, which we review de novo. Goodrich Corp. v. Town of Middlebury, 311 F.3d 154, 177 (2d Cir.2002). 32 The plaintiffs contend that, under both the DBA and the contract between the defendants and NYCHA, their overtime compensation should have been calculated at time-and-a-half the prevailing hourly rates, rather than at time-and-a-half the hourly rates the plaintiffs were actually paid. Although the plaintiffs brought this claim under the FLSA, not the DBA, they now wish to apply the more generous prevailing wage structure of the DBA to their claim for unpaid overtime compensation. 33 The FLSA, however, serves a different purpose than the DBA. The DBA provides for the payment of locally prevailing wages for work on federally funded projects. 40 U.S.C. § 276a; see Universities Research Ass'n v. Coutu, 450 U.S. 754, 773-74, 101 S.Ct. 1451, 67 L.Ed.2d 662 (1981). In contrast, the FLSA requires employers to pay each employee a guaranteed minimum wage, and it does not address liability for underpayment of hours at prevailing wage rates. 29 U.S.C. § 206(a)(1). 34 Under the FLSA, employees may recover unpaid overtime compensation and an additional amount of liquidated damages. 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). The FLSA requires that employees be paid overtime compensation equal to at least one and one-half times the regular rate at which [the employee] is employed, for all hours worked in excess of forty per week. 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1). Although the FLSA does not expressly define regular rate of pay, the Supreme Court has determined that it is the hourly rate actually paid the employee for the normal, non-overtime workweek for which he is employed. Walling v. Youngerman-Reynolds Hardwood Co., 325 U.S. 419, 424, 65 S.Ct. 1242, 89 L.Ed. 1705 (1945) (citation omitted) (emphasis added). 35 Under the DBA, an aggrieved employee is limited to those administrative mechanisms set forth in the text of the statute. Chan, 1 F.3d at 102. The plaintiffs' attempt to use the FLSA to circumvent the procedural requirements of the DBA must fail. The plaintiffs' forum for determining prevailing wages is the NYCHA, which can consider all aspects of the plaintiffs' wages and hours and compute underpayment for overtime hours at one-and-a-half times the prevailing wage. Grochowski, 2000 WL 1159640, at . 36 For the foregoing reasons, the district court properly limited the plaintiffs' claims under the FLSA for unpaid overtime compensation to one-and-a-half times the hourly rates actually paid. 37