We recently won a victory in the case of CARROCA v. ALL STAR ENTERPRISES AND COLLISION CENTER, Inc. Carroca, an auto body repairman, worked overtime hours during the course of his employment with the defendant, All Star Enterprises and Collision Center, Inc. (“All Star”) in Salem, Massachusetts. All Star did not pay Carroca overtime and instead relied on an exemption under 29 U.S.C. § 207(10)(A) which provides:

The [maximum hours] provisions of section 207 of this title shall not apply with respect to— . . .
(10)(A) any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, if he is employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling such vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers.

In other words, mechanics who work for car dealerships are exempt from overtime under federal law. However, we were able to learn during the course of discovery that 90 percent of the defendants’ sales came from auto body work and not car sales. In order to be considered a car dealership under the statute, more than 50 percent of sales must come from vehicle sales. See 29 CFR 779.372 (“As applied to the establishment, primarily engaged means that over half of the establishments annual dollar volume of sales made or business done must come from sales of the enumerated vehicles.”)

After moving for summary judgment, the Court ruled in our favor and awarded the plaintiff treble damages and attorneys’ fees (application pending).

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