Gomez v. Lincare, Inc. No. 05CC00109 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. Apr. 29, 2009)

The California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District reversed the state trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a medical device company defendant, finding that the company had not met its burden of proof regarding the applicability of the motor carrier employee exemption.

Lincare, Inc. ("Lincare") provides respiratory services, including oxygen systems, respiratory care, infusion therapy, and medical equipment setup to patients in their homes. Plaintiffs Jose Gomez, Daniel Gutierrez and Donny Talbot, all former Lincare employees who worked as Lincare "service representatives," were required to, among other things, transport hazardous materials developed by Lincare to its patients. After completing a forty-hour work week Monday through Friday, the plaintiffs were also required to be "on-call" during nights and weekends to provide both telephonic and in-person assistance to Lincare's patients.

Under Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations, commonly known as the "motor carrier exemption," employees who transport hazardous materials can be exempt from receiving overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of eight hours per day, or forty hours per week, as set forth in Labor Code section 510. Because the jobs at issue entailed transporting hazardous materials, Lincare classified the plaintiffs as exempt employees, and thus did not compensate the plaintiffs at the overtime pay rate for all hours the plaintiffs were "on-call." Alleging misclassification of exempt status, the plaintiffs filed suit against Lincare and sought recovery for unpaid overtime compensation for all "on-call" hours worked.

The trial court granted Lincare's motion for summary judgment and concluded that because the plaintiffs were regularly transporting hazardous materials, Lincare had properly classified the plaintiffs as exempt employees and thus did not violate any pay wage regulations.

The appellate court overturned the trial court's ruling and held that Lincare failed to establish that the regular duties of the plaintiffs consisted of transporting hazardous materials and did not fall under any other category of work. Due to Lincare's inability to present sufficient evidence showing that each plaintiff drove a vehicle containing hazardous materials for some period of time on each and every workday, which is required for an employee to be properly classified as exempt under the motor carrier exemption, the court found that there was a triable issue of material fact.