A manager claimed she wasn’t an exempt executive under the FLSA, because she spent most of her time doing non-executive duties — like stocking and cleaning. Was she entitled to overtime?
Irene Grace was an store manager for Family Dollar Stores, Inc., which considered store managers to be executives, exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Grace claimed that her and other store managers in similar situations shouldn’t have been classified as executives, because non-managerial jobs took up most of their workdays.
The ruling
Too bad for Grace, the court didn’t see it that way and ruled she wasn’t entitled to overtime pay.
Reason: Time spent on non-executive tasks isn’t the sole factor used to determine executive status under the FLSA, the court said.
It went on to say that even though non-managerial jobs may have occupied most of her time, she was still the person responsible for running the store. And performing non-exempt work while managing is recognized as a managerial duty by the Department of Labor.
Whenever Grace was in the store, she was performing management duties, so the Family Dollar was correct in classifying her as exempt, the court ruled.
Cite: Grace v. Family Dollar Stores, Inc.
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