US Supreme Court Kavanaugh says overtime pay rules may be invalid

(Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared to call on Wednesday for a legal challenge to World War II-era regulations that exempt some workers from overtime pay, in a case involving an oil drilling rig supervisor who was paid a day but earned more than 200,000 dollars a year.

Kavanaugh, a member of the court’s conservative wing, said during oral arguments That US Department of Labor regulations seem inconsistent with the law they are supposed to enforce, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The case brought by oil and gas services company Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. challenges the way overtime regulations are enforced but not their overall validity.

“If the legal argument isn’t here, I’m sure someone will raise it because it’s strong,” Kavanaugh said.

Helix is ​​appealing a US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that said his former supervisor, Michael Hewitt, was entitled to overtime pay because he was paid a daily wage rather than a regular paycheck while working 84 hours a week.

in friend summary The American Petroleum Institute and other trade groups, backed by Helix, have said daily prices are common in the oil and gas industry, and that Hewitt’s decision will open up a flood of class action lawsuits.

The FLSA says workers with “executive, managerial and professional” duties are exempt from mandatory overtime pay. The 1940 regulation states that highly paid workers—currently defined as earning $107,000 per year or more—are presumed exempt as long as they receive at least $455 per week in salary.

A separate rule states that the exemption can be applied when workers are paid daily, as long as they are guaranteed $455 per week “paid on salary.”

Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy, who represents Helix, argued Wednesday that because Hewitt made a daily wage of $963 and was guaranteed at least that much pay in any week he worked, and was earning more than $200,000 a year, he could He met the conditions for exempting the high-paid worker and the second rule was not applied at all.

Hewitt’s attorney, Ed Sullivan of Operty Sullivan, responded that the rule about daily wage rates applies because Hewitt was never paid. Because he was not guaranteed a salary of $455 a week, Sullivan said, he was not exempt under the Health Work Act.

The court’s liberal justices seem to agree. Judge Kitangi Brown-Jackson said the regulations are intended to ensure workers receive predictable payments, no matter how much they earn.

Conservative justices seemed more skeptical of Sullivan’s claims, suggesting that the rules were incompatible with each other and were not meant to be applied in tandem.

Kavanaugh went so far as to tell Clement that he thought the two regulations might be invalid due to the different conditions they impose on the broad exemption included in the Health Employment Act Act.

Clement, in response to a question from Kavanaugh, said he wasn’t aware of any outstanding issues challenging the regulations, but “I just asked about them, so someone will definitely raise it now.”

The case is Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. Hewitt, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 21-984.

For Helix: Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy

Hoyt: Samuel Kaplan in Boise Schiller Flexner and Ed Sullivan in Operty Sullivan

Government: Anthony Yang of the Office of the United States Attorney General

Read more:

Daily Paid Oil Driller No Pay Per FLSA, Additional Payable – Fifth District

The fifth circle is divided sharply in finding a supervisor worth the extra work

US Supreme Court decides when high-paid workers are entitled to overtime pay

US Department of Labor extends overtime pay to 1.3 million American workers

Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.