Landers v. Quality Communications, No. 12-15890 (9th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit against Quality and others, alleging that Quality failed to pay him and other similarly situated employees minimum wages and overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq. On appeal, plaintiff challenged the district court's dismissal under Rule 8. Post- Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, the court reviewed plaintiff's complaint to determine whether the allegations plausibly state a claim that Quality failed to pay minimum wages and overtime wages, keeping in mind that detailed facts are not required. The court was persuaded by the rationale espoused in the First, Second, and Third Circuit cases that in order to survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff asserting a claim to overtime payments must allege that she worked more than forty hours in a given workweek without being compensated for the overtime hours worked during that workweek. The court further agreed with its sister circuits that, at a minimum, a plaintiff asserting a violation of the FLSA overtime provisions must allege that she worked more than forty hours in a given workweek without being compensated for the hours worked in excess of forty during that week. In this case, plaintiff failed to state a claim for unpaid minimum wages and overtime wages. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Labor Law. The panel affirmed the dismissal, pursuant to Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, of an action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, alleging failure to pay minimum wages and overtime wages. The panel held that under Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), it is not enough for a complaint under the FLSA merely to allege that the employer failed to pay the employee minimum wages or overtime wages. Rather, the allegations in the complaint must plausibly state a claim that the employer failed to pay minimum wages or overtime wages. Agreeing with the First, Second, and Third Circuits, the panel held that detailed factual allegations regarding the number of overtime hours worked are not required, but conclusory allegations that merely recite the statutory language are not adequate. A plaintiff asserting a claim to overtime payments must allege that she worked more than forty hours in a given workweek without being compensated for the hours worked in excess of forty during that week. The panel held that the complaint in this case did not state a plausible claim because it did not allege facts showing that there was a specific week in which the plaintiff was entitled to but denied minimum wages or overtime wages.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on January 26, 2015.
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