Miller v. FleetCor Technologies Operating Co.

118 F. Supp. 3d 1351, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105154, 2015 WL 4661921
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedAugust 5, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 1:13-CV-2403-SCJ
StatusPublished

This text of 118 F. Supp. 3d 1351 (Miller v. FleetCor Technologies Operating Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. FleetCor Technologies Operating Co., 118 F. Supp. 3d 1351, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105154, 2015 WL 4661921 (N.D. Ga. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

STEVE C. JONES, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on Defendant’s motion for decertification [146].

[1353]*1353I. Background

A. Procedural History and Relevant Facts

On July 18, 2013, Plaintiff, Keith Miller, filed suit against Defendant FleetCor Technologies Operating Company, alleging Defendant was liable to him for overtime payments under the Fair' Labor Standards Act. On December 20, 2013, the parties stipulated to conditional certification of a class described as “any individual who worked for Defendant FleetCor Technologies Operating Company, LLC, in Nor-cross, Georgia, in the position of ‘Inside Sales Representative’ or ‘Outbound Sales Representative’ at any time from December 15, 2010, to August 1, 2013.” The court approved the stipulation on April 8, 2014. See Doc. No. [85]. The number of opt-ins is presently 77 current and former employees of FleetCor, The parties engaged in a period of discovery which included interrogatory responses from almost all Plaintiffs, depositions of two Plaintiffs, and a deposition of Defendant’s corporate designee. Defendant then filed the instant motion for decertification, contending that Plaintiffs’ .claims cannot be resolved on a collective basis. Opt-in Plaintiffs Sandra Siddell and Tara Grey dismissed their claims with prejudice after the parties briefed Defendant’s motion for decertification.

Defendant FleetCor provides credit card services to businesses with fleets of vehicles. These businesses use Defendant’s “fleet cards” to track fuel expenditures by workers who purchase fuel as part of their duties. Defendant employs “inside sales representatives” all of whom work at the Norcross headquarters. Based on the origin of the sales lead, the inside sales representatives are divided into two groups: inbound and outbound sales representatives. Outbound sales representatives do “cold calling” and networking, while inbound representatives sell through incoming calls and “warm leads.” Inbound sales has between two to four teams based on the source of the leads. Outbound has eight different teams organized by product sold. Each team has a different manager. Inside sales representatives report to team leads, who in turn report to a -director or senior manager. The directors or senior managers report to Paul Citarella, Senior Vice President of Sales, Mr. Citarella has held this position since 2008.-All of these supervisors, as well as the inside sales representatives, work near each other in cubicles at the Norcross headquarters. Mr. Citarella- works in an office on the same floor as many of the representatives.

Inside sales representatives use three computer programs in their work: Microsoft Outlook (for email), GADD (a computer program which allows representatives to make calls fi’om their computers and tracks those calls), and SalesForce.com (a web based customer management tool). The. representatives earn commissions based on the number of gallons of fuel sold. The commission structure is the same across all representatives, although different representatives have different sales requirements.

Prior to June 3, 2011, Defendant classified all inside sales representatives as “exempt” and did not record their hours. After June 2011, Defendant reclassified all inside sales representatives as “non-exempt.” At the time of reclassification, Defendant met with all inside sales representatives to explain the change- and new timekeeping practices. Defendant also instructed - sales representatives that they were not to work more than 40 hours per week without the approval of their manager. Managers were told to submit their employees’ hours bi-weekly. Defendant’s written policy indicated that employees were to complete a timesheet of all hours worked,-including pvertime hours, and sub[1354]*1354mit that to their manager. But Defendant admits that in' practice, managers actually reported hours worked based on their “visual” observations of each employee’s arrival, lunch break, and departure times. Employees did not began submitting their own timesheets until July 29, 2013, the end of the collective action period.

Almost every Plaintiff submitted interrogatory responses to Defendant. In Plaintiffs’ response brief, the portions of those interrogatory responses related to management instructions or statements concerning overtime pay are excerpted. See Doc. No. [148], at 11-16 n. 10. The court further discusses those responses below.

Plaintiffs further state that a review of the payroll records of all 77 Plaintiffs between June 3, .2011 and December 27, 2013, shows that Defendant recorded a total of 17 hours of overtime (worked by four Plaintiffs) for the approximately 4,750 weeks worked by all Plaintiffs during that time period.

B. Contentions

Defendant argues that the court must decertify the class because Plaintiffs worked two different types of jobs (inbound and outbound sales) which had different schemes of compensation during different times periods in the class (salary plus commission or hourly plus commission). Defendant further avers that Plaintiffs had numerous different supervisors who paid varying attention to whether Plaintiffs worked overtime and varied in the degree to which they encouraged overtime, and thus, whether Defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of overtime cannot be determined on a collective basis. Defendant also remarks that it has individualized defenses to Plaintiffs’ claims. Defendant contends that it is not liable to at least two Plaintiffs who cannot meet the three year statute of limitations for willful violations of the FLSA. It argues an additional ten Plaintiffs have claims outside of the two year statute of limitations period. Other Plaintiffs were terminated for fraud-like offenses that would go to their credibility. With respect to some Plaintiffs, Defendant intends to raise an offset claim. Finally, Defendant says several Plaintiffs are estopped from bringing their overtime claims because they failed to include the FLSA claims in their bankruptcy petitions.

Plaintiffs respond that the collective action should proceed because they are all inside sales representatives who had the same job duties and Defendant did not make any effort to track their hours. Nearly all Plaintiffs responded to interrogatories stating that they were consistently encouraged by their various supervisors to work overtime hours even though they were told they would not be paid overtime wages. Each of their managers reported to a single executive who was in charge of the inside sales program and was involved in the day-to-day operation of the inside sales team. Plaintiffs were all classified initially as exempt and then reclassified as non-exempt and Plaintiffs aver that whether the initial “exempt” classification was appropriate also should be decided on a collective basis.

II. Discussion

The FLSA authorizes collective actions against employers alleged to have violated the Act See 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). Once a plaintiff files a complaint, any other similarly situated employees who want to join must affirmatively consent to be a party and file such consent with the court. See, e.g., Albritton v. Cagle’s, Inc., 508 F.3d 1012, 1017 (11th Cir.2007).

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118 F. Supp. 3d 1351, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105154, 2015 WL 4661921, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-fleetcor-technologies-operating-co-gand-2015.