Scheck v. Maxim Healthcare Servs., Inc.

333 F. Supp. 3d 751
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedAugust 8, 2018
DocketCase No. 5:17CV2480
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 333 F. Supp. 3d 751 (Scheck v. Maxim Healthcare Servs., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scheck v. Maxim Healthcare Servs., Inc., 333 F. Supp. 3d 751 (N.D. Ohio 2018).

Opinion

JOHN R. ADAMS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This matter is before the Court upon Defendant Maxim Healthcare Services, Inc. ("Maxim") Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Linda Scheck's ("Plaintiff") Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Plaintiff has opposed *754the motion to dismiss. Having considered the parties' arguments, the Court holds that the Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 9) is GRANTED IN PART . The reasons for the Court's decision are set forth below.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff brings this putative class action against her former employer, Maxim, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq. ("FLSA") and Ohio law, for unpaid overtime compensation from January 1, 2015 to October 31, 2015. In the context of a motion to dismiss, the Court accepts Plaintiff's statement of facts regarding Maxim's operations.

Maxim provides in-home personal care, management, and/or treatment of a variety of conditions by nurses, therapists, medical social works, and Home Health Aides ("HHAs"). (Doc. 1, ¶ 11.) Plaintiff worked for Maxim as an HHA, allegedly from approximately July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016. (Id. , ¶ 7.) As an HHA, Plaintiff provided companionship services "in the homes of [Maxim's] clients to whom she was assigned." (Id. , 18.) Consequently, she was classified as an exempt employee under the FLSA, pursuant to the companionship services exemption. (Id. , ¶ 19.) During Plaintiff's employment, she worked more than 40 hours in some workweeks. (Id. at ¶¶ 8, 18.) Because Plaintiff was an exempt companionship services employee, however, Maxim paid her straight time for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

In mid-October 2015, Maxim began paying "full and complete overtime compensation" to all HHAs nationwide, including Plaintiff. (Id. , ¶ 33.) Plaintiff filed this lawsuit more than two years later, on November 27, 2017.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A motion to dismiss tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint. See Reeves v. PharmaJet, Inc. , 846 F.Supp.2d 791, 795 (N.D. Ohio, 2012). The Court accepts as true all well-pleaded factual allegations and construes the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Id. This does not mean, however, that everything in a complaint, or every inference that can be drawn therefrom, must be accepted at face value. The Court need not accept legal conclusions or unwarranted factual inferences at the motion to dismiss stage. Id. A complaint must "provide the grounds of [the plaintiff's] entitlement to relief," which "requires more than labels and conclusions." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted). "[A] formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do" to overcome a motion to dismiss. Id.

III. DISCUSSION

This suit concerns the "Home Care Final Rule" (or, the "Final Rule"), a rule promulgated by the United States Department of Labor in 2013 to extend FLSA wage and overtime protections to home care workers. The D.C. Circuit's decision in Home Care Ass'n of Am. v. Weil , 799 F.3d 1084, 1087-90 (D.D.C. 2015) summarizes the relevant history of the companionship services exemption and third-party employer regulation.

Congress amended the FLSA in 1974 to exempt employees providing "companionship services" from the statute's minimum wage and overtime provisions. Id. at 1087. The Department of Labor ("DOL") adopted implementing rules in 1975 and, for the next 38 years, the governing rule permitted third-party employers to rely upon the companionship services exemption. Id. at 1088-89.

In 2013, the DOL adopted the new Home Care Final Rule, which provided that third-party employers could no longer *755"avail themselves" of the FLSA's companionship services exemption. Id. at 1089. The DOL chose to delay implementation of the regulation until January 1, 2015. Id.

In December 2014, shortly before the third-party-employer regulation was scheduled to take effect, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that it was invalid under the framework established in Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Nat. Res. Def. Council , 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). Weil , 799 F.3d at 1089-90 (citing Home Care Ass'n of Am. v. Weil

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
333 F. Supp. 3d 751, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scheck-v-maxim-healthcare-servs-inc-ohnd-2018.