Dimiro v. Township of Montclair

676 A.2d 627, 290 N.J. Super. 708, 1996 N.J. Super. LEXIS 228
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedFebruary 16, 1996
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 676 A.2d 627 (Dimiro v. Township of Montclair) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dimiro v. Township of Montclair, 676 A.2d 627, 290 N.J. Super. 708, 1996 N.J. Super. LEXIS 228 (N.J. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

VAZQUEZ, J.S.C.

This matter comes before the court on a motion for summary judgment by defendant Township of Montclair. Defendant requests dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint. The complaint seeks recovery of unpaid overtime compensation, pursuant to the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201.

Having carefully considered the entire record before it, the court finds that plaintiff was employed by defendant in a bona fide executive capacity and that pursuant to 29 U.S.C.A. § 213(a) she is exempt from receiving overtime compensation under the provisions of 29 U.S.C.A. § 207. Accordingly, the motion of defendant is granted.

This matter was brought before the court upon a stipulation of facts in the record. This record included plaintiffs deposition and interrogatory answers, the 1990 Montclair Municipality Management Salary Ordinance, and minutes from selected municipality council meetings. Upon review of the record agreed to by both parties, the following pertinent facts emerge.

Plaintiff, Gloria Dimiro, began working for defendant, Township of Montclair, in 1968. In 1972, plaintiff became the full time court clerk for the municipality. Plaintiff held this position üntil her retirement in March 1994. During the course of her employment, plaintiffs salary increased from approximately $23,000.00 per year to approximately $55,000.00 per year and her title changed from Court Clerk to Court Administrator. Neither the changes in salary nor the change in title effectively changed the inherent nature of plaintiff’s employment.

[711]*711It is also undisputed that plaintiffs work duties included: handling the criminal complaints, setting up the court calendar, acting as custodian of the records of the municipal court, assisting the judge while court was in session, preparing the budget applicable to her department, and planning the work of other employees in the office. Plaintiff was also required to attend annual budget meetings with the judge and other department heads.

During plaintiffs tenure, the staff she supervised increased from three to six workers. While plaintiff did not have the authority to hire or fire anyone in the office, she held the authority to recommend the hiring of additional employees and was present during the interview of all new hires. Plaintiff’s supervisory responsibilities included apportioning and assigning work; scheduling the appropriate times for vacations and time off work; and dealing with the personal problems of the employees when they affect work environment.

Besides the recurring responsibilities described above, on one occasion, plaintiff recommended the firing of an employee she had disciplined. Based on plaintiffs recommendation, the municipal judge eventually terminated this employee.

Plaintiff also participated in the selection of the computer system and the automation of the municipal court in the early 1980’s. Prior to 1990, plaintiffs duties included the signing of arrest warrants. The legislature abridged this power by statute.

The duties and responsibilities described above, as well as the other functions of plaintiffs job, were all seemingly performed within the confines of a regular forty hour work week. However, this changed in 1977, when the Montclair instituted a night court. In her deposition, plaintiff testified that the night court heard cases one night a week for about forty weeks during the year. She also testified that her increased duties relating to the night court resulted in her working more than forty hours per week. In total, plaintiff’s complaint seeks about 1200 hours of unpaid overtime compensation accrued during the course of her employment with the township’s night court. To support her demand for [712]*712overtime compensation, plaintiff points to the Fair Labor Standards Act (F.L.S.A.).

The portion of the Fair Labor Standards Act that provides for overtime compensation states:

Except as otherwise provided in this section, no employer shall employ any of his employees who in any workweek is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or is employed in an enterprise engaged in commerce or the production of goods for commerce, for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one half times the regular rate at which he is employed.
[29 U.S.C.A. § 207(a)(1).]

Both parties agree to the applicability of the F.L.S.A. to the plaintiffs employment with defendant. The dispute revolves around whether the Act’s overtime-requirement exception applies to plaintiff. This exception provides:

(a) The provisions of ... section 207 of this title shall not apply with respect to:
(1) any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity____
[29 U.S.C.A. § 213(a)(1).]

This court has found no New Jersey case law interpreting the portions of the F.L.S.A. applicable to the instant case. However, a wealth of Federal decisions provide guidance for interpreting the relevant sections. It is well established that the F.L.S.A. exemption for bona fide executives, administrators and professionals is to be narrowly construed against the employer. Mitchell v. Kentucky Finance Co., 359 U.S. 290, 295, 79 S.Ct. 756, 759, 3 L.Ed.2d 815 (1959). Like other employers invoking this exemption, the Township of Montclair carries the burden of proving the section’s applicability to plaintiff. See Idaho Sheet Metal v. Wirtz, 383 U.S. 190, 86 S.Ct. 737, 15 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).

As suggested in the case law cited, a court properly turns to the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) to determine whether plaintiff falls within the exception for bona fide executive, administrator or professional. The C.F.R. provides various tests depending on whether the employee is classified as an executive, employee or professional. As neither party argues that the plaintiff is properly [713]*713characterized as a professional or an administrator, this case is limited to the statutory exemption for “executives”.

The phrase “employee employed in a bona fide executive ... capacity,” is defined at 29 C.F.R. § 541.1. This section enumerates both a “long test” and a “short test” to determine the capacity of an employee for the purpose of the overtime exception. Because plaintiff earned more than a threshold amount of money per week, the short test is applicable to the instant case. The short test provides, that an employee shall be deemed to meet the requirements of a bona fide executive, when that employee:

is compensated for his services at a rate of not less than ... $250.00 per week ... and whose primary duty consists of the management of the enterprise in which the employee is employed or of a customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof, and includes the customary and regular direction of the work of two or more other employees therein —

29 C.F.R. § 541.1. As seen above, plaintiff must satisfy two requirements to fall under the short test. First, the employee’s primary duty must be management and second, he must regularly direct the work of at least two other employees. Donovan v. Burger King Corp,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
676 A.2d 627, 290 N.J. Super. 708, 1996 N.J. Super. LEXIS 228, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dimiro-v-township-of-montclair-njsuperctappdiv-1996.