On January 19, 2017, the City of San Gabriel filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case known as
Flores v. City of San Gabriel. The petition seeks to reverse the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals with respect to two important issues.
First, the City contends that cash paid to employees in lieu of health benefits contributions should be excluded from the regular rate for purposes of calculating overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) pursuant to section 207(e)(2) of the FLSA, which permits exclusion of certain payments not made as compensation for hours of employment.
Second, the City contends that the Ninth Circuit’s standard for finding a “willful” violation of the FLSA, which increases the statute of limitations from two years to three years, fails to comply with Supreme Court precedent and places a significant burden on employers.
The City’s petition is available here. The Court’s decision on whether to grant the petition and hear the appeal is likely to occur between late March and the end of May. There is an outside chance it may take until October if the Court calls for the views of the Solicitor General. Art Hartinger, Jon Holtzman, and Kevin McLaughlin from Public Law Group are co-counsel representing the City in the Supreme Court proceedings.
For more information contact Art Hartinger (ahartinger@publiclawgroup.com, 510-995-5805), Jon Holtzman(jholtzman@publiclawgroup.com, 415-678-3807), or Kevin McLaughlin (kmclaughlin@publiclawgroup.com, 510-995-5806).