HCBA Lawyer Magazine Vol. 28, No. 6 | Page 46

FLSa eXemptioNS muSt Be iNterpreted FairLy — Not NarrowLy
labor & Employment law Section
Chairs: Cynthia Sass - Law Offices of Cynthia Sass & Jason Pill - Phelps Dunbar LLP
O
n April 2, 2018, the
U.S. Supreme Court
decided Encino
Motorcars, LLC v.
Navarro, holding that service
advisors at car dealerships are
exempt from the overtime-pay
requirement under the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA). 138 S. Ct.
1134, 1143 (2018). Chief Justice
Roberts and Justices Kennedy,
44
partsman, or
Alito, and
mechanic
Gorsuch joined
primarily engaged
in the majority
in selling or
opinion by
servicing auto -
Justice Thomas.
mobiles” at
The “service
covered dealer -
advisors” in
ships. But in
Encino Motorcars
2011, the DOL
were responsible
issued a rule
for meeting with
Courts interpreting an
that interpreted
customers about
exemption from FLSa
the exemption
car issues and
to exclude
selling them
“have no license to give
service advisors.
accessories, parts,
the exemption anything
The employer
and maintenance
but a fair reading.”
in Encino Motorcars
and repair work.
From 1978
appealed a Ninth
through 2011,
Circuit ruling
the Department
reversing the
of Labor took the position that
district court’s dismissal of an
service advisors met the FLSA’s
exemption of “any salesman,
Continued on page 45
© Can Stock Photo / designer491
SUMMER 2018
|
HCBA LAWYER