The Burden of Proof for Wage-Hour Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued an interesting employment law decision, E.M.D. Sales, Inc., et al. v. Carrera . As with the California Wage Orders and Labor Code, the FLSA contains several overtime exemptions. It is the employer’s burden to prove an employee falls under one of these exemptions. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was split with other federal appellate courts as to what evidentiary standard applies to FLSA claims, so the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. In E.M.D. Sales, employees sued their employer for unpaid overtime . The company argued that the employees were exempt from overtime under the FLSA’s outside sales exemption . The federal district court and the Fourth Circuit applied the “clear and convincing evidence” standard . The Supreme Court rejected this approach and ruled that the lower, more employer-friendly “preponderance of the evidence” standard applies. This standard is essentially “ 50% plus a feather ,” and muc...