Hamilton v. United States

85 Fed. Cl. 206, 15 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 113, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 372, 2008 WL 5456131
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 31, 2008
DocketNo. 06-680 C
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 85 Fed. Cl. 206 (Hamilton v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hamilton v. United States, 85 Fed. Cl. 206, 15 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 113, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 372, 2008 WL 5456131 (uscfc 2008).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SWEENEY, Judge.

Before the court is Defendant’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, Dismissing the Claims Remaining to be Adjudicated (“motion”).1 In this action, defendant seeks a judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”) dismissing plaintiffs claim for compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219 (2000), for time spent driving a government vehicle between home and work. Plaintiff contends that judgment on the pleadings is inappropriate and has requested oral argument on defendant’s motion. The court, however, deems oral argument unnecessary. For the reasons set forth below, the court grants defendant’s motion.

I. BACKGROUND

A.

Congress enacted the FLSA, in part, “to ensure that a covered employee received compensation for all hours worked for the employeif.]” Adams v. United States, 65 Fed.Cl. 217, 221 (2005) (“Adams I”), aff'd, 471 F.3d 1321 (Fed.Cir.2006) (“Adams II”), reh’g & reh’g en banc denied, 219 Fed. Appx. 993 (Fed.Cir.2007), cert denied, — U.S. —, 128 S.Ct. 866, 169 L.Ed.2d 723 (2008). Specifically, the FLSA was designed “to achieve a uniform national policy of guaranteeing compensation for all work or employment engaged in by employees covered by the Act.” Tenn. Coal, Iron & R.R. v. Muscoda Local No. 123, 321 U.S. 590, 602, 64 S.Ct. 698, 88 L.Ed. 949 (1944). Regulations promulgated by the United States Office of Per[208]*208sonnel Management (“OPM”) provide that “[a]ll time spent by an employee performing an activity for the benefit of an agency and under the control or direction of the agency is ‘hours of work.’ ” 5 C.F.R. § 551.401(a) (2006). Following the United States Supreme Court (“Supreme Court”) decision in Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680, 66 S.Ct. 1187, 90 L.Ed. 1515 (1946), Congress enacted the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947, Pub.L. No. 80-19, 61 Stat. 84 (codified at 29 U.S.C. §§ 251-262 (2000)), which amended certain provisions of the FLSA, see IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez, 546 U.S. 21, 25-26, 126 S.Ct. 514, 163 L.Ed.2d 288 (2005) (discussing the Supreme Court’s early interpretations of the FLSA); Adams II, 471 F.3d at 1324-25 (same), and “pared back the broad definition of compensable work initially promulgated by the Supreme Court in Anderson, ” Adams II, 471 F.3d at 1325.

The Portal-to-Portal Act, as amended by the Employee Flexibility in Commuting Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-108, § 2102, 110 Stat. 1755, 1928, exempts certain employee activities from the definition of compensable work under the FLSA. Specifically, it releases an employer from liability under the FLSA for the following activities:

(1) walking, riding, or traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity or activities which such employee is employed to perform, and
(2) activities which are preliminary to or postliminary to said principal activity or activities,
which occur either prior to the time on any particular workday at which such employee commences, or subsequent to the time on any particular workday at which he ceases, such principal activity or activities.

29 U.S.C. § 254(a). With respect to transportation-based work, the Portal-to-Portal Act further provides:

For purposes of this subsection, the use of an employer’s vehicle for travel by an employee and activities performed by an employee which are incidental to the use of such vehicle for commuting shall not be considered part of the employee’s principal activities if the use of such vehicle for travel is within the normal commuting area for the employer’s business or establishment and the use of the employer’s vehicle is subject to an agreement on the part of the employer and the employee or representative of such employee.

Id.

B.

Plaintiff Kerry R. Hamilton is employed by the United States Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”), as a diversion investigator. Compl. H1. On September 29, 2006, plaintiff instituted this action in the United States Court of Federal Claims (“Court of Federal Claims”), alleging that defendant “wilfully [has] violated, and continued] wilfully to violate, the provisions of the FLSA and the leave, holiday and premium pay provisions of Title 5 of the U.S.Code by wrongfully and wilfully failing and refusing to provide the plaintiff ... with pay and benefits due____” Id. 117. Plaintiff claims that since at least 2003, defendant considered her “as being ‘FLSA exempt’ and has not accorded [her] the rights to which FLSA non-exempt employees of defendant are entitled,” id. 118, even though she “was not employed by defendant in an exempt capacity within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(1),” id. 119; accord id. H10 (alleging that plaintiff “was FLSA non-exempt since [she] was not a salaried employee within the meaning of’ the FLSA and implementing regulations). Plaintiff seeks an award of back pay, leave, absence and holiday compensation, liquidated damages, interest from 2003 to entry of judgment, and attorney’s fees. Compl. Prayer for Relief.

On September 29, 2006, the same date on which she filed her complaint, plaintiff filed a notice of indirectly related cases. Plaintiffs notice indicated that the instant action was indirectly related to, among other cases, Adams I, “which [was] currently pending in the United States Court of Federal Claims, [and] the outcome of which [was] likely to call for a determination of the same or substantially similar questions as are presented in the instant case.” Pl.’s Notice Indirectly Related Cases 2. Following a status conference with the parties on February 12, 2007, [209]*209the court entered a stay pending settlement discussions and disposition of the appeal in Adams I that was pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”). See Order, Feb. 12, 2007. On June 28, 2007, the parties entered into a partial settlement agreement, see Stipulation of Partial Dismissal, wherein they

stipulate[d] to the partial dismissal of certain claims asserted in this action pursuant to, and in accordance with, the terms of a partial settlement agreement entered into by the parties on June 28, 2007.
The claims encompassed by the ... partial settlement agreement and by this stipulation of partial dismissal are plaintiffs claims for compensation under the [FLSA], based upon employment by the [DEA] in non-supervisory diversion investigator positions____

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85 Fed. Cl. 206, 15 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 113, 2008 U.S. Claims LEXIS 372, 2008 WL 5456131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamilton-v-united-states-uscfc-2008.