The U.S. Supreme Court sided with employers, unanimously rejecting employees’ argument that employers have to meet an enhanced standard of proof to show that federal law does not require they provide overtime pay.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the court’s 9–0 opinion in E.M.D. Sales Inc. v. Carrera that was issued on Jan. 15.
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) guarantees eligible employees a minimum wage and overtime pay, but employers do not have to pay overtime to executives, agricultural workers, or outside salesmen. The burden of proving the exemption falls on employers.
The legal issue here was whether employers must prove an FLSA exemption applies on a preponderance of the evidence, as six federal courts of appeals 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….