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- Title
Don't Buck the Trend: Misinterpreting Lapides in Order to Minimize State Employees' Remedies Under the FLSA in Bergemann v. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
- Authors
SHOREY, STEPHEN
- Abstract
In Bergemann v. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the plaintiffs were a group of Rhode Island environmental police officers ("EPOs") that worked for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management ("Rhode Island"). These EPOs worked a unique schedule that required them to remain on call during much of the day, including lunch. This formed the basis of the EPOs' Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") claim, which sought back pay for two and a half hours per week. Seizing on this FLSA claim, Rhode Island removed the case to federal court. The First Circuit's decision hinged on a question left unresolved by the Supreme Court's decision in Lapides v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia: whether Rhode Island waived its immunity defense upon removal to federal court. The First Circuit ruled that Rhode Island did not waive its immunity defense and accordingly dismissed the EPOs' claims brought under the FLSA. This Comment argues that the First Circuit misinterpreted Lapides and should have instead acknowledged Lapides's focus on the voluntariness of removing the case to federal court, rather than focusing on Rhode Island's benign motive for doing so. By allowing Rhode Island to maintain immunity upon removal, the First Circuit is the latest court to limit employees' rights in the name of state sovereignty.
- Subjects
RHODE Island; UNITED States; LAPIDES v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (Supreme Court case); LEGAL status of state government personnel; LEGAL remedies; FAIR Labor Standards Act of 1938 (U.S.); RHODE Island. Dept. of Environmental Management; UNITED States. Court of Appeals (1st Circuit); LEGAL judgments; GOVERNMENT liability; U.S. states
- Publication
New England Law Review, 2014, Vol 48, Issue 3, p637
- ISSN
0028-4823
- Publication type
Article