The Ongoing Debate Concerning Automobile Service Advisors’ Rights to Overtime Wages
By: David A. Napper and Alexandra R. Rambis
September 30, 2016
Are automobile service agents exempt from the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (“FLSA”) overtime requirements? Although the United States Supreme Court has remanded the case back to the Ninth Circuit to interpret the statute without deference to the Department of Labor’s decision, one thing is certain now: the answer will have significant implications for automobile dealerships.
In Navarro v. Encino Motorcars, LLC (2016) 136 S. Ct. 2117, service advisors brought an action against the automobile dealership where they were employed, alleging that their employer was required by the FLSA to pay them overtime wages. The dealership argued that the position and duties of a service advisor brought the plaintiffs within an exemption to the FLSA provisions, which exempts employees engaged in selling or servicing automobiles from overtime wages. Indeed, the FLSA exemption, codified as 29 U.S.C. §213(b)(10)(A), exempts “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles.”