Michael L. Rehberg v. Dept. of Pub. Safety

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: July 16, 1997
• Docket: 96-4258
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________

No. 96-4258 ___________

Michael L. Rehberg, and all other * similarly situated employees; * Keith W. Asleson; Theodore K. Hull, * * Appellants, * * Appeal from the United States v. * District Court for the * Southern District of Iowa. Iowa Department of Public Safety, * sued as Department of Public Safety * [UNPUBLISHED] and the State of Iowa, * * Appellees. * ___________

Submitted: July 14, 1997 Filed: July 16, 1997 ___________

Before FAGG, BOWMAN, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges. ___________

PER CURIAM.

Michael L. Rehberg, Keith W. Asleson, and Theodore K. Hull commenced this action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-19 (1994) (FLSA), against their employer--the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DOS) and the State of Iowa--seeking overtime compensation. Upon defendants’ motion, the District Court1 dismissed the action. The court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction under Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 116 S. Ct. 1114 (1996), as Iowa had not consented to the suit; the Commerce Clause did not grant Congress the power to abrogate Iowa’s Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit; and the FLSA was enacted pursuant to the Commerce Clause. Plaintiffs appeal, arguing that, although the FLSA may have been passed pursuant to the Commerce Clause, Congress subsequently passed an FLSA amendment abrogating the states’ immunity pursuant to Congress’s enforcement power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Appellants’ argument is foreclosed by our recent decision in Raper v. Iowa, 115 F.3d 623, ____ (8th Cir. 1997). In Raper, we rejected the argument made by Iowa employees who were seeking overtime compensation that Congress revoked the states’ Eleventh Amendment immunity from FLSA lawsuits under the Fourteenth Amendment, because we concluded that the FLSA’s overtime provisions cannot be seen as serving a Fourteenth Amendment purpose. See id. Accordingly, the judgment of the District Court is affirmed.

A true copy.

Attest:

CLERK, U. S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.

1 The Honorable Celeste F. Bremer, United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Iowa, to whom the case was referred for final disposition by consent of the parties pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) (1994).

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