Argued: May 3, 2019
Appeal
from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Michigan at Grand Rapids. No. 1:15-cv-00931-Janet
T. Neff, District Judge.
ARGUED:
Robert
Anthony Alvarez, Agustin Henriquez, Jr., AVANTI LAW GROUP,
PLLC, Wyoming, Michigan, for Appellants.
Gregory N. Longworth, CLARK HILL PLC, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
for Appellee.
ON
BRIEF:
Robert
Anthony Alvarez, AVANTI LAW GROUP, PLLC, Wyoming, Michigan,
for Appellants.
Gregory N. Longworth, CLARK HILL PLC, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
for Appellee.
Before: GUY, CLAY, and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges.
OPINION
CLAY,
CIRCUIT JUDGE.
Plaintiffs
Howard Holt and Martin Erskine appeal from the judgment
entered in favor of Defendant City of Battle Creek on
Plaintiffs' claim that Defendant violated the Fair Labor
Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 201,
et seq., by failing to pay Plaintiffs overtime
wages. For the reasons set forth below, we
AFFIRM the decision of the district court.
BACKGROUND
Factual
History
Plaintiffs
Holt and Erskine each served as a battalion chief in
Defendant's fire department. Holt was the
"suppression" battalion chief from 2007 until his
retirement in 2015; Erskine became the
"administrative" battalion chief in 2012 and has
not retired. Battalion chiefs are second in command in the
fire department hierarchy, behind the fire chief but ahead of
other employees. Plaintiffs served under three different fire
chiefs: Chief Larry Hausman from 1997 through April 2013,
Chief Jackie Hampton from April 2013 through January 2014,
and Chief Arthur David Schmaltz from February 2014 through
the rest of the time period at issue.
I.
Battalion Chief Job Responsibilities
The
City of Battle Creek's job description for battalion
chiefs included the following summary of the position's
responsibilities:
Provides supervision to fire fighting personnel; Implements
the incident command system and serves as incident commander
at all incidents; Accepts responsibility for assigned
administrative and fire prevention functions; Functions as
the chief administrative officer of the department in absence
of the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief; Actively supports
the ...