No. 21-640

Five Star Automatic Fire Protection, L.L.C. v. Department of Labor

Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2021-11-02
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Tags: burden-shifting civil-rights class-action due-process evidentiary-rule fair-labor-standards-act overtime-pay representative-testimony wal-mart-v-dukes
Key Terms:
Arbitration ERISA WageAndHour ClassAction
Latest Conference: 2022-04-14
Question Presented (AI Summary)

In light of Dukes and Tyson Foods, is this an important decision of a federal question in a way that conflicts with relevant decisions of this Court?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW 1. In Wal-Mart v. Dukes, this Court rejected “Trial by Formula” in disapproving the use of representative testimony for certification of Rule 23 class actions under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, a “doffing and donning” wage and hour case, this Court carved out an apparently limited exception to Wal-Mart v. Dukes where the representative testimony was augmented by broadly applicable statistics, such that the experiences of a subset of employees were probative of the experiences of all of them. In this FLSA action, the Court of Appeals held an employer liable for overtime pay and liquidated damages to 53 employees based solely on the live testimony of only six, plus written DOL statements from two others, which collectively were not proven to be representative of the other 45. In light of Dukes and Tyson Foods, is this an important decision of a federal question in a way that conflicts with relevant decisions of this Court? 2. Inthe 1946 case of Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery, when fixed work sites and punch-in time clocks facilitated precise timekeeping, this Court imposed on employers without precise records a harsh burden-shifting rule, effectively requiring them to pay triple time based on employees’ self-serving estimates of unpaid overtime work hours. The modern workforce of shifting disparate work sites and schedules driven by variable work activities bears little resemblance to the mid-1940s. Should this Court abrogate or modify its 75-year-old il evidentiary rule for modern workplaces where time clocks may be impossible or infeasible?

Docket Entries

2022-04-18
Petition DENIED.
2022-03-23
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/14/2022.
2022-03-04
Brief of respondent Department of Labor in opposition filed.
2022-01-27
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including March 4, 2022.
2022-01-25
Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 2, 2022 to March 4, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-12-30
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including February 2, 2022.
2021-12-29
Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 3, 2022 to February 2, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-11-15
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 3, 2022.
2021-11-12
Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 2, 2021 to January 3, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-10-28
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 2, 2021)

Attorneys

Five Star Automatic Fire Protection, L.L.C.
Michael Timothy Milligan — Petitioner
Michael Timothy Milligan — Petitioner
United States Department of Labor, Martin J. Walsh, Secretary of Labor
Elizabeth B. PrelogarSolicitor General, Respondent
Elizabeth B. PrelogarSolicitor General, Respondent