Brown v. Maxim Healthcare Services

171 F. Supp. 3d 696, 2016 WL 1104736, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37046
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedMarch 22, 2016
DocketCASE NO. 1:14CV2041
StatusPublished

This text of 171 F. Supp. 3d 696 (Brown v. Maxim Healthcare Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Maxim Healthcare Services, 171 F. Supp. 3d 696, 2016 WL 1104736, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37046 (N.D. Ohio 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

CHRISTOPHER A. BOYKO, United States District Judge

This matter comes before the Court upon the Motion (ECF DKT # 48) of Defendant, Maxim Healthcare Services, Inc., for Summary Judgment. For the following reasons, the Motion is granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, Vanni Brown, worked for Maxim as a Home Health Aide (“HHA”) from approximately March 20, 2012 to November 12, 2014. Maxim provides home health care, medical staffing and wellness services for children, adults and senior citizens living with chronic conditions, recovering from illness or in need of daily assistance. Each patient has a unique plan of care customized to the patient’s medical condition, abilities and needs and incorporating the services that are funded by the insurance provider. Each plan of care specifies the types of duties that the HHA must perform and the HHA is not authorized to perform any other duties, even if requested by the patient. The HHA completes a form entitled “Aide Weekly Notes” at the end of each shift which the HHA and the patient sign, detailing the time HHA arrived and departed; the patient care performed; and the total hours for each day.

During her tenure with Maxim, Brown cared for eight patients: Samuel Bourn (September 2014); Rozann Manee (November 2012); Tommie Davis (August 2014); Henry Johnson (May to November 2012); Torey Neal (November and December 2012); Elizabeth Robinson (June to September 2014); Anthony Ficzieri (August to November 2014); and Lynne Reynolds (January tp October 2014). Brown regularly worked more than forty hours per week. In patient Reynolds’ case, Brown worked approximately twelve hours per day, six days a week. Brown claims that she was not paid 150% of her regular hourly rate for all hours worked in excess of forty in a work week as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) (29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.). Maxim insists that Brown, as an HHA, qualified for the companionship services exemption from the overtime or minimum wage provisions of the FLSA.

II. LAW AND ANALYSIS

Standard of Review

Summary judgment shall be granted only if “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The burden is on the moving party to conclusively show no genuine issue of material fact exists. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Lansing Dairy. Inc. v. Espy, 39 F.3d 1339, 1347 (6th Cir.1994). The moving party must either point to “particular parts of materials in the record, including 'depositions, documents, [698]*698electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations, admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials” or show “that the materials cited do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute, or that an adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to support the fact.” See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e)(1)(A), (B). A court considering a motion for summary judgment must view the facts and all Inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). Once the movant presents evidence to meet its burden, the nonmoving party' may not rest on its pleadings, but must come forward with some significant probative evidence to support its claim. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548; Lansing Dairy, 39 F.3d at 1347.

The “mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (emphasis in original); accord Leadbetter v. Gilley, 385 F.3d 683, 689-90 (6th Cir.2004); Weaver v. Shadoan, 340 F.3d 398, 405 (6th Cir.2003). A fact is material only if its resolution “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

This Court does not have the responsibility to search the record sua sponte for genuine issues of material fact. Betkerur v. Aultman Hospital Ass’n., 78 F.3d 1079, 1087 (6th Cir.1996); Guarino v. Brookfield Township Trustees, 980 F.2d 399, 404-06 (6th Cir.1992). The burden falls upon the nonmoving party to “designate specific facts or evidence in dispute,” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505; and if the nonmoving party fails to make the necessary showing on an element upon which it has the burden of proof, the moving party is entitled to summary judgment. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Whether summary judgment is appropriate depends upon “whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Amway Distributors Benefits Ass’n v. Northfield Ins. Co., 323 F.3d 386, 390 (6th Cir.2003) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505).

FLSA

Under the FLSA, an employee who works more than forty hours in a work week must receive overtime compensation at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the regular rate. 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1). In 1974, Congress amended the FLSA to include many “domestic service” employees not previously subject to its minimum wage and maximum hour requirements. See Long Island Care at Home, Ltd. v. Coke, 551 U.S. 158, 127 S.Ct. 2339, 168 L.Ed.2d 54 (2007). At the same time, Congress created an exemption that excluded from FLSA coverage certain employees such as companionship workers. Id., citing 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(15). The Department of Labor defines “companionship services” as:

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Bluebook (online)
171 F. Supp. 3d 696, 2016 WL 1104736, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-maxim-healthcare-services-ohnd-2016.