United States Third Circuit

In plaintiff's suit against his employer for past overtime payments in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant-employer is affirmed where: 1) the Department of Labor's factually distinguishable opinion letters and broad general guidance are not sufficiently thorough or consistent to warrant deference in this case; 2) the fact that defendant's plan is not calculated strictly as a percentage of sale price does not disqualify it from being a commission under section 7(i); and 3) when the flat-rate payments made to an employee based on that employee's sales are proportionally related to the charges passed on to the consumer, the payments can be considered a bona fide commission rate for the purposes of section 7(i).

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/21/2010
• Decided 09/07/2010
• Published 09/07/2010

Judges

• FISHER

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Shanon J. Carson, Sarah E. Bouchard