Amshey v. United States

26 Cl. Ct. 582, 1 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1691, 1992 U.S. Claims LEXIS 288
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJune 30, 1992
DocketNos. 583-86C, 703-86C, 296-87C, 196-88C and 197-88C
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 26 Cl. Ct. 582 (Amshey v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amshey v. United States, 26 Cl. Ct. 582, 1 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1691, 1992 U.S. Claims LEXIS 288 (cc 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

HARKINS, Senior Judge:

In these consolidated cases, plaintiffs are 465 employees of the Treasury Department in the Uniformed Division (UD) of the United States Secret Service. Proceedings have been exceptionally contentious, and, as a result, unnecessarily protracted.

On January 22,1987, counsel’s Joint Preliminary Status Report listed 15 issues generated by the complaints. On counsel’s recommendation proceedings were bifurcated, with liability issues to be determined in Stage 1, and damages deferred to Stage 2. Five years later, proceedings still are in Stage 1. One reason for the slow development of these cases may be the concerns of both parties that extend beyond Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) coverage of the UD. Defendant’s counsel is apprehensive that FLSA nonexemption of UD sergeants and lieutenants threatens Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) regulatory supervision of the federal classified service. Plaintiff’s counsel is concerned that FLSA exemption of UD sergeants and lieutenants threatens the status of state and local police personnel.

When the complaints were filed in 1986, the personnel office of the Secret Service considered the sergeant and lieutenant positions in the UD to be exempt from FLSA. At that time, however, because the UD was not subject to the Classification Act, position descriptions for sergeants and lieutenants did not exist, and these positions had not been subject of desk audits.

In 1988, the Secret Service undertook a study of the sergeant and lieutenant positions in the UD to review the validity of the decision that those positions were exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the FLSA. The study was made against the background of the challenge these cases posed to the validity of the exemption decision.

The Secret Service study was performed by Ms. Susan Tracey, then assistant to the Chief of the Secret Service Personnel Division. The report (Tracey report) was communicated to plaintiffs on October 11,1988. The Tracey report with respect to 48 UD positions concluded that three sergeant positions were nonexempt from FLSA coverage, and that all other sergeant and lieutenant positions were exempt.

On August 11, 1989, a joint stipulation was filed for entry of partial judgment to resolve claims for compensation for time spent by plaintiffs in the Canine Corps in transporting assigned dogs to and from work and caring for the dogs in off-duty hours. Final judgment in the amount of $750,000 in favor of 31 plaintiffs named in the stipulation as a group was entered on August 15, 1989.

From October 2, 1989, to August 28, 1990, Stage 1 proceedings centered on cross-motions for partial summary judgment, and the positions occupied by 43 lieutenants and 125 sergeants in the UD. The [584]*584cross-motions concerned two issues: (1) the FLSA exemption issue, and (2) the Lane-hart issue.1 The motion papers and argument disclosed infirmities in the Tracey report’s descriptions of UD positions and ambiguities in tasks performed.

The motions for partial summary judgment on the exemption issue were denied because genuine issues of material fact were in dispute. On the Lanehart issue, defendant established that overtime worked by plaintiffs was not “regularly scheduled.” Plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment on that issue was denied and defendant’s cross-motion was allowed.

On the exemption issue, the parties were unable to agree upon a comprehensive stipulation of facts sufficient to describe the work performed in the UD positions. Accordingly, disposition of the exemption issue through summary judgment procedures was not feasible.

Throughout the proceedings on the exemption issue, the parties were separated by a basic difference as to the scope of the FLSA statutory authorizations to the Department of Labor (DOL) and to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and to the applicability of DOL regulations to FLSA coverage of the UD positions. The Tracey report, and defendant’s efforts to stipulate facts relative to work performed, centered exclusively on criteria and definitions in OPM’s regulations for administrative and executive exemptions. As a result the parties were unable to agree on the specific details of tasks performed in the normal course of work in the disputed positions and the amount of time expended in those tasks.

By January 4, 1991, the parties could agree on 40 stipulations. On that date, plaintiff filed a list of 15 additional proposed stipulations that defendant refused to stipulate. On February 4, 1991, the parties added seven more stipulations, and identified 22 areas where counsel were unable to agree.

At a pretrial conference on February 6, 1991, it became clear that the parties were unable to agree upon a description of facts applicable to the disputed positions, or upon the facts that would apply to a list of positions that would put into focus all elements relative to the exemption issue. In this posture, counsel were directed jointly to select and identify the positions that would resolve plaintiffs’ claims on the exemption issue to be resolved in Stage 1.

On January 22, 1991, defendant filed a motion for partial summary judgment applicable to eight of the positions described in the Tracey study. It was agreed at the conference that a trial would not be held with respect to the eight positions identified in defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment.

On February 20, 1991, the parties identified six lieutenant and six sergeant positions to be the subject of the trial in Stage 1. At trial it became apparent that the list included seven lieutenant positions, and eight sergeant positions.

Trial was held during the period May 13-24, 1991. During trial, the parties, on May 20, 1991, filed 40 additional stipulations. All stipulations were adopted when proof was closed on May 24, 1992.

The positions that were the subject of trial were:

Lieutenant Positions
(1) Control Center Lieutenant
(2) Lieutenant subordinate to the Special Agent in Charge (SAIC) within the Office of Protective Operations UD
(3) Foreign Missions Liaison/Intelligence Lieutenant
(4) Operational Lieutenant in the Foreign Missions Branch
(5) Operational Lieutenant in the White House Branch
(6) Countersniper Lieutenant
(7) Canine Lieutenant
Sergeant Positions
(1) Building Sergeant
[585]*585(2) Control Center Sergeant, White House Branch
(3) Control Center Sergeant, Foreign Missions Branch
(4) Intelligence Liaison Sergeant, Foreign Missions Branch
(5) Operational Sergeant in the Foreign Missions Branch
(6) Operational Sergeant in the White House Branch
(7) Special Operations Sergeant
(8) Worker Access and Visitor Entrance System (WAVES) Sergeant

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Bluebook (online)
26 Cl. Ct. 582, 1 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1691, 1992 U.S. Claims LEXIS 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amshey-v-united-states-cc-1992.