Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Ninth Circuit Withdraws "Flyover" Wage and Hour Case

We posted about Sullivan v. Oracle here, and blew a weekend on an article (you don't have to read) here. That's the case where the court of appeals held that an out of state resident is covered by California's wage and hour laws even when he or she works only briefly in California.

The Ninth Circuit decided to withdraw the opinion, here. Instead, the court certified three questions to the California Supreme Court:

First, does the California Labor Code apply to overtime work performed in California for a California-based employer by out-of-state plaintiffs in the circumstances of this case, such that overtime pay is required for work in excess of eight hours per day or in excess of forty hours per week?

Second, does § 17200 apply to the overtime work described in question one?

Third, does § 17200 apply to overtime work performed outside California for a California-based employer by out-of-state plaintiffs in the circumstances of this case if the employer failed to comply with the overtime provisions of the FLSA

So, the California Supreme Court, if it accepts the Ninth Circuit's invitation, will give its input and then the Ninth Circuit presumably will re-issue its opinion with the benefit of California's high court's analysis. Stay tuned.