Summary
affirming dismissal of FLSA action by state employees for unpaid overtime
Summary of this case from Norris v. Mo. Dep't of Corr.Opinion
No. 96-2895SI
Submitted February 12, 1997
Filed June 13, 1997
Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellant was Pamela J. Prager of Des Moines, Iowa. Appearing on the brief was R. Todd Gaffney.
Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellee was Jeffrey D. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, of Des Moines, Iowa.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
Before FAGG, HEANEY, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judges.
Clifford Daniel Raper and other Iowa state employees brought these lawsuits contending the State of Iowa is liable for unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Relying on Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 116 S. Ct. 1114 (1996), the district court dismissed the employees' FLSA challenge to the employment practices of various state agencies for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
See Raper v. Iowa, 940 F. Supp. 1421, 1423-27 (S.D. Iowa 1996). In Seminole Tribe, the Supreme Court concluded that Congress lacks the power to abrogate a state's Eleventh Amendment immunity when it enacts legislation under the Interstate Commerce Clause. See 116 S. Ct. at 1126-28; see also Moad v. Arkansas State Police Dep't, 111 F.3d 585, 586-87 (8th Cir. 1997) (state employees' FLSA action seeking unpaid overtime was not authorized by the Commerce Clause). On appeal, the employees argue the district court failed to recognize that Congress could have revoked the state's sovereign immunity from their FLSA lawsuits under the enforcement power of the Fourteenth Amendment. Like the Sixth Circuit in Wilson-Jones v. Caviness, 99 F.3d 203, 208-11 (6th Cir. 1996), modified on other grounds, 107 F.3d 358 (6th Cir. 1997) (per curiam), we reject the employees' argument because the FLSA's overtime provisions cannot be regarded as serving a Fourteenth Amendment purpose, see id. at 210. Although beyond the scope of the issues in these consolidated appeals, we nevertheless make clear that we leave for another day the issue of whether the Fourteenth Amendment gives Congress the power to override a state's Eleventh Amendment immunity for violations of the FLSA's equal pay provisions. See Timmer v. Michigan Dep't of Commerce, 104 F.3d 833, 842 (6th Cir. 1997).
We thus affirm the judgment of the district court.