Myers v. Global Resources and Support, LLC

District Court, District of Columbia·Decided October 1, 2025·No. Civil Action No. 2022-0032·Published

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

JOSHUA MYERS, Plaintiff,

v.

No. 22-cv-00032 (DLF)

GLOBAL RESOURCES AND SUPPORT, LLC, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Joshua Myers brings this action for unpaid wages against Global Resources and Support, LLC (GRS), Tonya Coppin, Harold Fox, Jr., and Janette Headley. Sec. Am. Compl., Dkt. 24. Myers alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq., the District of Columbia Payment and Collection of Wages Law (DCPCWL), D.C. Code §§ 32-1301, et seq., the District of Columbia Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act of 2008 (DCASSLA), D.C. Code §§ 32-531.01, et seq., and the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Revision Act (DCMWRA), D.C. Code §§ 32-1001, et seq. Sec. Am. Compl. at 1. Before the Court are the defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment and for Partial Summary Judgment, Dkt. 43, and the plaintiff’s Cross-Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, Dkt. 46. For the following reasons, the Court will deny the defendants’ motion and grant the plaintiff’s motion in part and deny it in part. I. BACKGROUND The following facts are undisputed. GRS is a for-profit company that provides “vocational and residential supports to adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” Pl.’s Statement of Facts (PSOF) ¶ 2, Dkt. 46-2. In exchange for providing these services, GRS is paid by Medicaid through a waiver program with the District of Columbia Department of Disability

Services (DDS). Id. ¶¶ 3–7. Among GRS’s dozens of employees, Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) are at the “lowest level” of the organizational structure and are “responsible for providing the hands-on care and support to GRS clients.” Id. ¶ 12. DSPs take clients to activities and supervise them in the community. Id. ¶ 14. Employment Specialists assist clients with finding employment. Id. ¶¶ 16–17, 81. Program Managers sit directly above the DSPs and assume the role of a DSP “on an as-needed basis.” Id. ¶¶ 19–20. A “multi-level management team” sits atop the business, with Coppin serving as CEO and other individuals serving as functional managers. Id. ¶ 21. Fox, Coppin’s husband, “has held various managerial positions.” Id. ¶ 22.

In October 2016, Myers was hired by GRS as a DSP, a non-exempt position paying an hourly wage. Id. ¶¶ 41, 43–44. In November 2016, he was promoted to Program Manager, an exempt position that paid an annual salary of $38,000 and later $48,000. Id. ¶ 45–49. And in October 2020, Myers became an Employment Specialist, an exempt position in which he earned an annual salary of $48,000. Id. ¶¶ 76–77. Headley, Coppin’s mother, was Myers’s direct supervisor when he was an Employment Specialist. Id. ¶¶ 22, 79. Myers’s employment with GRS ended in January 2022. Id. ¶ 85.

Myers filed this suit in January 2022 alleging that the defendants had misclassified him as an exempt employee and failed to pay him overtime wages and certain other payments. After discovery, the defendants moved for summary judgment. Attached to their motion is a scant statement of material facts as to which, in the defendants’ view, there is no genuine dispute. Defs.’ Statements of Facts, Dkt. 43. In his joint motion for partial summary judgment and opposition, the plaintiff included his own statement of undisputed material facts in support of his motion, Dkt. 46-2, and a statement of material facts in dispute in response to the defendants’ motion, Dkt. 48-1. In violation of Local Rule 7(h) and this Court’s standing order, the defendants failed to respond to

both (1) the plaintiff’s statement of undisputed material facts and (2) the “additional factual allegations” made in the plaintiff’s opposition. See Standard Order for Civil Cases at 4–5, Dkt. 3. The defendants also failed to list all material facts in their initial statement of facts, see Dkt 48-1 at 1 n.1 (plaintiff pointing out these omissions and identifying the facts), and failed to include a statement of new material facts used in their opposition brief, see Dkt. 58 (same), all of which leaves the plaintiff, and the Court, scouring the record, which the Court declines to do, Jackson v. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, 101 F.3d 145, 154 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (“Where a party fails . . . to file a proper statement of material facts in dispute pursuant to a local rule, the circuits are in agreement that the district court is under no obligation to sift through the record, which often contains voluminous deposition transcripts, interrogatory responses, and document productions, in order to evaluate the merits of that party’s case.”). The Court “may treat as conceded any facts asserted” in the plaintiff’s statements of facts to which the defendants failed to respond in a “responsive statement of [their] own.” 1 Standard Order at 5; see Jackson, 101 F.3d at 154. Accordingly, the Court will adopt the plaintiff’s facts, unless disputed by the facts listed in the defendants’ initial statement of facts. II. LEGAL STANDARDS Under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is appropriate if the moving party “shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); see Anderson v. Liberty Lobby

1 In addition to failing to comply with Local Rule 7(h) and this Court’s Standing Order, the defendants’ briefing is replete with inaccuracies and errors. See, e.g., Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J. at 22 (citing a case from this district with the governing legal test by the wrong name and incorrectly stating that it was issued by the “D.C. Court of Appeals”); Defs.’ Reply & Opp’n at 5–6, Dkt. 55 (omitting citations to three cases and misidentifying the court that issued an opinion); see also infra at 6–7 nn.3–4.

Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247–48 (1986). A “material” fact is one that could affect the outcome of the lawsuit. See Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 248; Holcomb v. Powell, 433 F.3d 889, 895 (D.C. Cir. 2006). A dispute is “genuine” if a reasonable jury could determine that the evidence warrants a verdict for the nonmoving party. See Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 248; Holcomb, 433 F.3d at 895. In reviewing the record, the court “must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, and it may not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence.” Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., 530 U.S. 133, 150 (2000) (citation modified). III. ANALYSIS A. FLSA Exemptions The FLSA requires employers to compensate employees for overtime work at an increased rate, 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1), unless the employee falls within a defined exemption, id. § 213(a). The FLSA exempts, among others, “any employee employed in a bona fide executive [or] administrative . . . capacity.” Id. “[T]he application of an exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act is a matter of affirmative defense on which the employer has the burden of proof.” Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 U.S. 188, 196–97 (1974). 2 In their motion for summary judgment, the defendants argue that Myers was an administrative employee and thus exempt from overtime protections. Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J. at 4–19. For his part, Myers argues that he was not exempt under either the administrative or the executive exemption. Pl.’s Cross-Mot. for Partial Summ. J. at 14–28. The Court will address each exemption in turn.

2 The parties agree that the exemption analysis under the FLSA applies equally to the DCMWRA. See Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J. at 18–19; Pl.’s Cross-Mot. for Partial Summ. J. at 14; D.C. Code § 32-1004(a)(1).

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