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Speculation On Amount of Overtime Worked? Keep Guessing: Not Sufficient for Wage & Hour Claim

Ihegword v. Harris County Hosp. Dist. - 5th Circuit Court of Appeals





Facts:  Edith Ihegword was a nurse at several hospitals in Houston from 1998 to 2009.  In 2009, Ihegword was discharged on the grounds of poor job performance, loss of confidence and inability to get along with co-workers.  Ihegword brought suit and alleged discrimination on the basis of national origin & disability, failure to pay overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Texas Labor Code, and retaliation.  In relevant part, Ihegword claimed that she did not always complete her paperwork to document her time worked before her shift ended.  While she claimed that she maintained a log of her overtime worked, Ihegword said she kept it in her locker but was not allowed to retrieve it after she was terminated.  As a result, Ihegword estimated from memory that she worked about twelve hours of uncompensated overtime a week.   

Harris County Hospital District (HCHD) filed a motion for summary judgment as to all of Ihegword's claims and pointed to Ihegword's deposition testimony in which she claimed to not remember how often she worked overtime and guessed as to the amount of overtime she worked on certain days.  The district court subsequently granted HCHD's motion.  Ihegword appealed to the Court of Appeals. 

Holding:  The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling and held that there was a complete lack of evidence, other than Ihegword's unsubstantiated speculations from memory as to the amount of overtime hours worked, to support her claim.  As well, the Court of Appeals noted the lower court found that Ihegword failed to produce sufficient evidence that anyone at HCHD knew of the alleged uncompensated overtime Ihegword claimed to have worked.  

Consequently, the Court of Appeals held that unsubstantiated and speculative estimates of uncompensated overtime work does not constitute sufficient evidence to show the amount and extent of that work. 

Judgment:  The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of HCHD, as Ihegword's speculation as to the amount of alleged unpaid overtime worked was insufficient to prevail on her unpaid wages claim.

The Takeaway:  This is a fairly straightforward opinion and one that is not at all surprising.  Employees who claim they were not paid for overtime worked (or even regular, non-overtime work hours) need to have a consistent record of these hours.  Simple guessing or speculation as to the exact amount is not sufficient and will in all likelihood prevent an employee from prevailing on an unpaid wages claim without sufficient, concrete evidence for a court to look to.  

Majority Opinion Judge:  Per Curiam

Date:  February 12, 2014

Opinion:  http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions%5Cunpub%5C13/13-20186.0.pdf


Thanks to Time Well Spent for the comic.

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