L & F DISTRIBUTORS v. Cruz

941 S.W.2d 274, 1996 WL 727185
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 6, 1997
Docket13-94-492-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 941 S.W.2d 274 (L & F DISTRIBUTORS v. Cruz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
L & F DISTRIBUTORS v. Cruz, 941 S.W.2d 274, 1996 WL 727185 (Tex. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinions

OPINION

RODRIGUEZ, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment on a jury verdict in a suit for unpaid overtime and for retaliatory discrimination brought under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under four points of error, L & F Distributors complains that the court erred by submitting jury questions regarding discrimination, damages, exemplary damages, and attorney’s fees. Amador Cruz brings five cross-points complaining that the court erred by disregarding certain jury findings and by rendering judgment in favor of L & F on the issue of his right to overtime pay under the FLSA. In response to Cruz’s cross-points, L & F raises five cross-points of its own regarding Cruz’s status as an “executive” or a “loader” under the FLSA, its good faith, and insufficiency of the evidence on damages. We reverse and render judgment in favor of L & F on the retaliatory discrimination claim and in favor of Cruz on his claim for unpaid overtime compensation.

For fourteen years, Cruz worked in the Harlingen warehouse of a beer distributor operated by L & F. Cruz usually worked 50 to 60 hours over a four day workweek. For the two and a half week period dining spring break, however, Cruz was required to work long hours seven days a week. When Cruz objected to working on the weekends during spring break, L & F’s initial response was to demote Cruz. He was fired the following day. The parties agree that L & F had been paying Cruz a regular amount every week until he was fired, but they dispute whether this payment was a salary or an hourly wage. The parties also agree that Cruz’s job title was “warehouse manager,” but they disagree as to the amount of supervisory authority this job entailed.

Cruz sued L & F and Henry Williams, an L & F general manager. The court directed a take-nothing verdict in favor of Williams at the close of Cruz’s presentation of evidence. Questions were submitted on Cruz’s claim for overtime pay and his claim that L & F discriminated against him for complaining about the long hours he was required to work. The court also submitted a jury question regarding fees for Cruz’s attorney.

The jury answered all questions in favor of Cruz. In response to L & F’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, the court disregarded the jury’s findings concerning the amount of overtime compensation that L & F owed Cruz. As a result, the court rendered a take-nothing judgment on Cruz’s claims for overtime compensation but granted judgment in favor of Cruz on the retaliatory discrimination claim. We will address the points relevant to each claim separately.

I. RETALIATORY DISCRIMINATION

Subject to certain exceptions, an employer cannot require that an employee work for “a [278]*278workweek 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 the regular rate at which he is employed.” 29 U.S.C.A. § 207(a)(1). An employee’s right to enforce these wage and hour protections is safeguarded by an anti-retaliation provision making it unlawful

to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this chapter, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, or has served or is about to serve on an industry committee[.]

Id. § 215(a)(3). By its first point of error, L & F complains that the trial court erred by submitting a jury question on Cruz’s retaliatory discrimination claim because Cruz had never engaged in any activity protected by the FLSA.

The anti-retaliation provision of the FLSA protects only those employees who assert their statutory rights. Goldberg v. Bama Mfg. Corp., 302 F.2d 152, 154 (5th Cir.1962). Although the FLSA forbids employers from requiring certain employees to work more than 40 hours a week unless the employer pays time and a half for overtime, it neither prohibits employers from requiring employees to work on the weekend nor limits the total hours an employer can require an employee to work during any given week. 29 U.S.C.A. § 207(a)(1).

The undisputed evidence in this case shows that Cruz complained about having to work over the weekend in addition to working long hours during the week, but he neither asked for overtime pay nor indicated that he would file a complaint under the FLSA. Because Cruz’s complaint to his supervisor did not rest on the assertion of a statutory right, we find no evidence that Cruz engaged in any activity protected by the FLSA. Accordingly, the trial court erred by submitting the retaliatory discrimination cause of action to the jury. See Crosbyton Seed Co. v. Medium Farms, 875 S.W.2d 353, 364 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1994, no writ). We render judgment that Cruz take nothing on his retaliatory discrimination claim.

II. CLAIM FOR UNPAID OVERTIME COMPENSATION

Cruz’s claim for unpaid overtime compensation was submitted to the jury by four questions. Because bona fide executives are not entitled to time and a half pay for overtime, the trial court first asked the jury to resolve this issue. The jury found that Cruz was not a bona fide executive. By its answer to Question 2, the jury found that Cruz should be awarded $19,223.70 for unpaid overtime compensation for the period from September 11,1990,1 to March 11,1992. Because a claimant’s right to overtime pay is governed by a three-year statute of limitations if the employer’s violation of the FLSA was willful, the court next asked the jury to resolve this issue. The jury found that L & F’s failure to pay Cruz overtime compensation was willful. By its answer to Question 4, the jury found that Cruz was entitled to $10,372.50 for the period from September 11, 1989, to September 11,1990.

In its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, L & F asserted that there was no evidence to support the jury’s findings of unpaid compensation under Questions 2 and 4. Specifically, L & F argued that the jury used a method of calculating overtime pay which was improper as a matter of law because Cruz was a fixed salary employee working fluctuating hours. After a hearing, the court disregarded the jury’s answers to Questions 2 and 4 and then rendered judgment for L & F on the claim for overtime compensation. By cross-points two and five, Cruz complains that the court erred in disregarding the jury’s answers to the compensation questions.

[279]*279 A. Defective Submission of Questions on Damages

It is undisputed that L & F paid Cruz a regular amount every week and that Cruz’s hours fluctuated from week to week. In light of these facts, L & F argues that any award of compensation for unpaid overtime must be calculated by using the formula applied in Blackmon v. Brookshire Grocery Co., 835 F.2d 1135, 1138-39 (5th Cir.1988). The Blackmon formula is C = (W/H) x .5 x (H-40). Under this formula, “C” is compensation owed, “W” is the amount of wages paid every week, and “H” is the number of hours worked during the relevant week.

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Bluebook (online)
941 S.W.2d 274, 1996 WL 727185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/l-f-distributors-v-cruz-texapp-1997.