Maverick County and Maverick County Sheriff’s Department Lose Appeal of Unpaid Overtime Wages to Deputy Sheriff’s and Employees
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied Maverick County and Maverick County Sheriff’s Department appeal of a judgment issued on March 30, 2018 by United States District Judge Alia Moses for the Western District of Texas, Del Rio Division, against them for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) due to unpaid overtime wages of Maverick County Deputy Sheriff’s and employees as well as a September 20, 2018 Amended Judgment awarding attorney’s fees, post-judgment interest, and court costs, according to an opinion filed on April 29, 2020.
Former Maverick County Deputy Sheriff’s Daniel Cruz and Armando Sanchez filed a lawsuit on August 1, 2014 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Del Rio Division, against Maverick County and the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department alleging Maverick County had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act for not paying them overtime compensation for hours worked over 40 per workweek during a period from 2011 to 2014. Subsequently, the District Court certified a group of 36 Maverick County Deputy Sheriff’s, Jailers, and employees as a collective class action for the same alleged violations.
In October 2014, the U.S. Labor Department conducted an investigation of Maverick County’s failure to pay its employees’ overtime wages from March 2012 to March 2014. This was the second such investigation of Maverick County with the first being done in 2005, which Maverick County had given its assurance to the U.S. Labor Department of “full future compliance with all provisions of the Act (FSLA) from that time forward.” The October 2014 Labor Department Investigation found non-compliance by Maverick County with the FSLA’s overtime wage rules-for the second time.
After a two-day bench trial before U.S. District Judge Alia Moses during September 27-28, 2017, Maverick County conceded liability for violating the FSLA and proceeded to trial on the amount of damages owed to the Plaintiffs and whether Maverick County had willfully violated the FLSA.
On March 30, 2018, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses rendered a Final Order of Judgment, finding that Maverick County had willfully violated the FLSA because of its previous 2005 Labor Department investigation and assurance to comply with the FLSA from that date forward and the Labor Department’s October 2014 investigation found non-compliance for a second time with the Act and entered a final judgment against Maverick County in favor of Plaintiffs for the total amount of $569,669.58 plus court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees to be determined at a future court hearing.
Subsequently, Judge Moses entered an Order Granting Motion to Amend Judgment on September 20, 2018, awarding Plaintiffs’ attorneys fees of $196,800, court costs of $2,287.50, and post-judgment interest at a rate of 2.55% “from the date of the Amended Final Judgment, until the foregoing sums are paid in full.”
On October 19, 2018, Maverick County and the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department filed an appeal of Judge Moses’ September 20, 2018 Amended Judgment with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Maverick County and the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department raised four legal issues on appeal to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, alleging 1) whether the district court abused its discretion by not dismissing the class of Plaintiffs for not complying with discovery rules; 2) whether the district court abused its discretion in not striking litigants’ testimony because of violations of the rule of sequestration of witnesses pursuant to Rule 615; 3) whether the district court clearly erred in finding that Maverick County willfully violated the FLSA; and 4) whether the district court abused its discretion by awarding the Deputies’ attorneys’ fees.
All four legal issues on appeal by Maverick County and the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department were denied and U.S. District Judge Alia Moses’ March 30, 2018 Final Order of Judgment and September 20, 2018 Amended Judgment were affirmed. In addition, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to Judge Moses for “consideration of attorney’s fees on appeal.” The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that “prevailing plaintiffs under the FLSA may recover an additional fee to compensate counsel for their services in connection with this appeal.”
In her April 29, 2020 Opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote that “In 2011, Judge David Saucedo became the County Judge. He was responsible for setting the annual budget for each county department, including the Sheriff’s Department. Upon assuming the position of County Judge, he experienced difficulty maintaining budgets, describing Maverick County as ‘hemorrhaging money.’ In response, he took steps towards limiting overtime work and implementing an across-the-board ‘pay freeze’ in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016.”
“As part of these cutbacks, in October 2011 Maverick County allegedly elected to stop paying the Deputies comp time for the hours worked in excess of 40 per workweek. The Deputies allegedly complained about the unfair pay practice publicly at County Commissioner’s meetings and informally to Maverick County Sheriff’s Tomas Herrera and Tom Schmerber. Many of the Deputies also allege that they were told not to record their time accurately because they would not be compensated for any hours worked over 40 per workweek,” added Justice Elrod in her Opinion.
The total amount owed by Maverick County to Plaintiffs and their attorneys as of the publication of this article is the sum of $768,757.08 plus post-judgment interest of 2.55% from the date of the Amended Final Judgment on September 20, 2018 until the foregoing sums are paid in full and the additional attorney’s fees on appeal to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to be determined in a future court hearing by Judge Moses.
Furthermore, Maverick County has paid a significant sum of attorney’s fees to its attorneys representing it during the inception of the U.S. Department of Labor investigation in October of 2014, litigation of this case in the U.S. District Court, and the appeal before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which said sum is unknown as of press time.
Maverick County and the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department are currently reviewing the Opinion of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and will soon make a decision on whether to request a rehearing en banc, appeal the decision to the United States Supreme Court , or honor the decision and proceed to a district court hearing on Plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees on appeal.
Regardless of Maverick County’s decision, the potential cost of this litigation to Maverick County taxpayers is over one million dollars when you add the total amount of the judgment, court costs, post-judgment interest, attorney’s fees owed to Plaintiffs for their work in U.S. District Court and on the appeal to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and attorney’s fees paid to Maverick County’s attorneys and court costs and expenses incurred in defending the case.
Plaintiffs are represented by Glenn Deutsch Levy of San Antonio, Texas and Melinda Arbuckle of Houston,Texas, while Maverick County and the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department are represented by Mark Anthony Sanchez and Robert W. Wilson of San Antonio, Texas.
