David W. Ricksecker
Thu, 03/23/2023
A Federal Judge denied GrowersHouseLLC, which supplies indoor gardening equipment, primarily to cannabis growers, motion for summary judgment and found there is a factual dispute over what those employees’ regular duties were and thus cannot determine if they were misclassified under the FLSA.
In the suit, the employees who worked as account managers allege that they regularly work more than 40 hours per week but are not paid overtime. Both were initially hired as customer service or sales representatives on an hourly wage basis but were then moved to managing commercial accounts and receiving a fixed salary about a year after being hired.
The employer argued that the account managers’ duties include overseeing outside partners, building relationships with customers, tracking relationships with commercial producers and acting as the “face of the company,” arguing that they fall under the FLSA’s administrative exemption.
The Judge, however, wrote that the parties disagree as to the nature of the work, with the employees maintaining that their duties were primarily to receive and process product orders from customers and to close specific sales, and that they do not play a role in managing or operating the business.
GrowersHouse also argued that the pair fall under the executive exemption because they supervise or manage other employees. The Judge found that GrowersHouse was not precluded from using that theory, but found that there is a material dispute about whether the pair customarily and regularly directed the work of two other employees as is required for the exemption to apply.
“Although defendants presented evidence that plaintiffs ran sales team meetings, served in leadership roles on the sales team, and answered questions from other sales employees, the court has not located any evidence in the record showing that plaintiffs regularly directed the work of two or more other employees,” the judge wrote. “Defendants have not presented evidence showing that plaintiffs directed the work of any other employees, let alone two or more.”
The case is Buber et al. v. GrowersHouse LLC et al., case number 4:20-cv-00219, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
If you have been misclassified under the FLSA, contact our office at (202) 833-8855 or email us at info@mselaborlaw.com.
