Eastern District Court Dismisses FLSA Claim Based on Statute of Limitations

In Everett v. The Maternal Child Consortium, LLC, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed claims arising from a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) which did not fall within the two-year statute of limitations. Civil Action No. 18-746 (E.D.Pa. 2018). Plaintiff began working for Defendant’s company in September of 2004 as a scheduler. Between 2004 and 2016, Plaintiff alleges that she consistently worked 41.5 hours per week and estimated that on three occasions per week, her meals were interrupted which reduced her meal time to under twenty minutes, the amount of time required by law.

Plaintiff asserted two bases for her FLSA claim. First, she asserted that she was not paid overtime compensation for work performed during her meal breaks. Second, she asserted that she performed “compensable on-call work”. The FLSA establishes federal minimum-wage, maximum-hour, and overtime guarantees that cannot be modified by contract. Under the FLSA, “employers may not employ an employee for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.”

Defendant raised a statute of limitations defense and contended that Plaintiff has to show that Defendant willfully violated the FLSA. Since Plaintiff failed to do so, the Court dismissed all of her claims arising out of a violation of the FLSA which did not fall within the two-year statute of limitations. In addition, the Court found that Plaintiff’s single allegation that she “performed compensable on-call work” was not enough to state a claim because she was required to show “onerous on-call polices and significant interference with plaintiff’s personal life.” For these reasons, the Court dismissed Plaintiff’s second FLSA claim.

For more information, call our Philadelphia employment lawyers for Fair Labor Standards Act in Philadelphia and South Jersey at the Law Office of Sidkoff, Pincus & Green at 215-574-0600 or contact us online.