Wingert v. Yellow Freight Systems, Inc.

146 Wash. 2d 841
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 18, 2002
DocketNo. 70972-6
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 146 Wash. 2d 841 (Wingert v. Yellow Freight Systems, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wingert v. Yellow Freight Systems, Inc., 146 Wash. 2d 841 (Wash. 2002).

Opinions

Ireland, J.

— Yellow Freight Systems, Inc., seeks review of a Court of Appeals decision reversing the trial court’s summary dismissal of its employees’ wage claims. The employees brought suit alleging Yellow Freight violated WAC 296-126-092(4) by failing to provide paid rest periods in accordance with the regulation’s standards. At issue is whether a private cause of action exists to pursue the claim, whether the rest break standard is superseded by the parties’ collective bargaining agreement, and whether the regulation is preempted by federal law. We hold that the employees have a private right of action, that the collective bargaining agreement does not abrogate the minimum rest break requirement, and that the issue of preemption is not properly before the Court. We affirm the Court of Appeals decision that the order granting summary judgment be reversed and remand the matter for trial on the merits.

FACTS

Yellow Freight Systems, Inc., has employed Roger Wingert and the other named respondents (employees) at [845]*845its Seattle terminal in the following job classifications: (1) driver, (2) yard hostler, and (3) dockworker. Drivers deliver merchandise to, and pick up merchandise from, Yellow Freight customers. Hostlers stage trailers at the terminal. Dockworkers load and unload trailers and stage freight for shipment at the terminal.

All three classifications of employees are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, General Teamsters Local No. 174, AFL-CIO. They are covered by a national collective bargaining agreement between trucking companies, including Yellow Freight, and the union.

In accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, Yellow Freight’s employees are given a morning and an afternoon break and a lunch break during a regular workday as follows:

A typical day for Dock Workers and Hostlers consists of two hours of work, followed by a fifteen minute paid break, followed by one and three-quarters hours of work, followed by a half-hour unpaid lunch break, followed by the same pattern again: two hours of work, a fifteen minute paid break, then one and three-quarters hours of work.
A typical day for Drivers is similar, except that the Drivers have more discretion as to when, during each shift, they take their fifteen-minute paid breaks.

Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 12.

Employees are commonly assigned to work longer than an eight-hour workday, for which they receive overtime compensation. The collective bargaining agreement requires a 15-minute break after two hours of an overtime assignment, so Yellow Freight allows employees who work more than two hours of overtime to take the break. However, no breaks are accorded employees who work two hours or less.

If employees “work two hours of overtime or less at the end of their regular shift, they receive no rest period from the time their regular afternoon break ends at 2:45 until they are excused for the day, often at 6:30, a period of nearly [846]*846four hours of uninterrupted physical labor.” Wingert v. Yellow Freight Sys., 104 Wn. App. 583, 585-86, 13 P.3d 677 (2000).

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Employees of Yellow Freight initially brought suit alleging that their employer violated WAC 296-126-092(4) by requiring them to work longer than three consecutive hours without a paid rest period. They asserted that the administrative regulation requires they be granted a 10-minute paid break during the first two hours of an overtime assignment that follows a regular shift. The employees sought back wages for the rest periods during which they were required to work and an award of attorney fees and costs pursuant to RCW 49.52.070.

Yellow Freight moved for summary judgment, asserting that chapter 49.12 RCW, the statute under which the administrative regulation was adopted, provides that it is not to interfere with collective bargaining concerning conditions of employment. In the alternative, Yellow Freight argued that chapter 49.12 RCW does not create a civil cause of action for a breach of the administrative regulation. In response, the employees moved for partial summary judgment on liability and for injunctive relief.

On November 23, 1999, the King County Superior Court granted Yellow Freight’s motion and dismissed the employees’ complaint.

The employees appealed. The Court of Appeals reversed the order granting summary judgment to Yellow Freight and remanded the matter for trial on the issue of damages. Wingert, 104 Wn. App. at 597.

This Court granted Yellow Freight’s petition for review of the Court of Appeals decision. Wingert v. Yellow Freight Sys., 144 Wn.2d 1009, 32 P.3d 284 (2001).

[847]*847ANALYSIS

Standard of Review

In reviewing an order granting summary judgment, the appellate court engages in the same inquiry as the trial court. Young v. Key Pharms., Inc., 112 Wn.2d 216, 226, 770 P.2d 182 (1989). Summary judgment is properly granted when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. CR 56(c); Clements v. Travelers Indem. Co., 121 Wn.2d 243, 249, 850 P.2d 1298 (1993). The evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom are to be considered in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Schaaf v. Highfield, 127 Wn.2d 17, 21, 896 P.2d 665 (1995). “All questions of law are reviewed de novo.” Berger v. Sonneland, 144 Wn.2d 91, 103, 26 P.3d 257 (2001).

Violation of Regulation

Washington’s statutory provisions concerning industrial welfare are set out in chapter 49.12 RCW. The director of the Department of Labor and Industries is charged with administering and enforcing “all laws respecting the employment and relating to the health, sanitary conditions, surroundings, hours of labor, and wages of employees employed in business and industry” in accordance with the provisions of the chapter. RCW 43.22.270(4).

The provisions of chapter 296-126 WAC, which contain labor standards for the protection of employees’ safety, health, and welfare, were adopted under the authority of chapter 49.12 RCW. At issue in this case is the rest period provision of WAC 296-126-092, which states as follows:

Employees shall be allowed a rest period of not less than 10 minutes, on the employer’s time, for each 4 hours of working time. Rest periods shall be scheduled as near as possible to the midpoint of the work period. No employee shall be required to work more than three hours without a rest period.

WAC 296-126-092(4).

[848]*848WAC 296-126-092(4) does not distinguish between regular and overtime hours worked. Rather, the chapter defines “hours worked” as “all hours during which the employee is authorized or required by the employer to be on duty.” WAC 296-126-002(8).

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Bluebook (online)
146 Wash. 2d 841, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wingert-v-yellow-freight-systems-inc-wash-2002.