The U.S. Supreme Court seemed prepared on Nov. 5 to reject an enhanced standard of proof for employers to demonstrate that federal law does not require they pay workers overtime.
The justices heard oral arguments in the case known as E.M.D. Sales Inc. v. Carrera.
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which covers more than 140 million workers, guarantees eligible employees a minimum wage and overtime pay, but contains 34 exemptions from those mandates. Employers do not have to pay overtime to executives, agricultural workers, or outside salesmen.
The legal issue here is whether employers must prove the applicability of an FLSA exemption on a preponderance of the evidence, as six federal courts of appeal have held, or by the tougher clear-and-convincing-evidence standard, as only the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has held….