## Facts

- Susan Lord worked for Family Dollar Stores, Inc. as a store manager.
- Lord was paid a fixed weekly salary ranging from $704 to $731.
- During the relevant period, Lord received a one-time $422 bonus tied to store performance; nonexempt hourly employees were not eligible for that bonus.
- Lord averaged about 64 hours of work per week, making her effective hourly rate about $11.00 to $11.42.
- Hourly employees in Lord’s store averaged about $8.18 per hour; of 17 nonexempt employees, 15 earned less than $10 per hour.
- Lord’s manager duties included interviewing and hiring hourly workers, making hiring recommendations for assistant managers, directing and supervising nonexempt employees, and maintaining sales and financial records.
- Lord claimed she spent at least 90% of her time doing manual tasks (such as stocking, cashiering, and cleaning) rather than management work.
- Even while doing manual tasks, Lord decided which nonexempt tasks to perform herself and which to assign to other employees.
- Lord sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for unpaid overtime, alleging she was misclassified as an exempt executive.
- Family Dollar moved for summary judgment, arguing that Lord met the executive exemption.

## Issues

1. Whether Lord’s “primary duty” was management for purposes of the FLSA executive exemption, even if she spent most of her time performing nonexempt manual work.
2. Whether the undisputed record entitled Family Dollar to summary judgment on its executive-exemption defense.

## Decision

- The court granted Family Dollar’s motion for summary judgment.
- The court held that Lord qualified as an exempt executive under the FLSA and its implementing regulations.
- The court ruled that Lord’s asserted heavy share of manual work did not, by itself, create a triable issue where the evidence showed she remained responsible for running the store and directing employees.
- Judgment was entered for Family Dollar on Lord’s FLSA overtime claim.

## Legal Principles

- The FLSA’s executive exemption applies when an employee (1) is paid on a salary basis at the required level, (2) has a primary duty of management, (3) customarily and regularly directs the work of two or more employees, and (4) has hiring/firing authority or whose recommendations on personnel actions are given “particular weight.” 29 C.F.R. § 541.100(a).
- “Primary duty” is determined by the character of the employee’s job as a whole, not by a time-only rule. Relevant factors include the relative importance of managerial duties, frequency of discretionary decisions, freedom from supervision, and salary compared with wages paid to nonexempt employees. 29 C.F.R. § 541.700(a).
- An employee may perform exempt and nonexempt work at the same time; concurrent performance of manual work does not defeat the executive exemption if management remains the employee’s main duty. 29 C.F.R. § 541.106.
- Pay structure and compensation differences (including bonus eligibility tied to store performance and not available to hourly workers) may support a finding that a store manager’s main duty is management.
- Summary judgment is appropriate on the exemption defense when the record would not allow a reasonable jury to find that the employee’s primary duty was nonmanagement.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that Susan Lord was properly classified as an exempt executive because, despite her claim that she spent most of her time on manual tasks, the record showed she ran the store, supervised employees, exercised discretion in directing work, and played a meaningful role in hiring decisions, and her salary and bonus structure reflected managerial status; therefore, Family Dollar was entitled to summary judgment on the overtime claim.


In re Family Dollar FLSA Litigation, 998 F. Supp. 2d 440 (2014)