An employer failed to show that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA’s) administrative exemption applied to two former employees who were suing for unpaid overtime, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. Although the employees’ investigative duties were important to the employer’s business, that did not make the workers administrative employees, the court said.
The employer investigated damage to broadband service providers’ infrastructure and then tried to collect money on the providers’ behalf from the party responsible for the damage. The employees worked as property damage investigators. After their employment ended, the employees brought FLSA claims against the company for unpaid overtime wages.