Car Dealership Service Advisers Exempt From OT: High court

Colin Calvert is quoted in the article “Car Dealership Service Advisers Exempt From OT: High Court,” featured in Business Insurance. This article discusses the recent U.S. Supreme Court Ruling exempting automobile service advisors from being paid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Until 2011, the FLSA law regarding overtime pay included service advisors as salesmen exempting them from overtime pay. After a new rule was issued by the Department of Labor, the interpretation of the law excluded service advisors as salesmen leading to current and former service advisors suing California-based Encino Motorcars, a Mercedes-Benz dealership, for back pay.

Colin said, “The ruling reaffirms long-standing FLSA interpretations regarding service advisers generally.” It also expands the FLSA’s interpretation more broadly, “which is important to employers.”

“It allows them to properly categorize employers who are engaged in sales activities and have them categorized under the FLSA in the correct way,” Colin said.