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Criminal Defendant Does Community Service Then Wants to be Paid Minimum Wage for the Work Performed? Nice Try, But No


Doyle v. The City of New York - United States District Court, Southern District of New York


Facts:  Plaintiffs were a group of individuals who performed services for the City of New York in exchange for dismissal of minor criminal charges.  The plaintiffs were not paid for completing the required community service.  These plaintiffs subsequently brought suit against the City and alleged that they qualified as employees for the work they performed, and thus were entitled to minimum wage for the services they rendered.  The City moved to dismiss the claims on the grounds that the plaintiffs were not "employees" under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and in the alternative, they fit within the statutory exemption for "volunteers". 

Holding:  As the Court noted, this was an issue of first impression.  (For those not familiar with that phrase, the Court referred to the fact that this was the first time this type of legal issue had been raised.  As a result, there is often little caselaw to rely upon to refer to as precedent).  The Court initially looked at the somewhat vague way the FLSA defines "employee" and focused on the fact that the FLSA does not extend to persons "who, without promise or expectation of compensation, but solely for...personal purpose or pleasure, worked in activities carried on by other persons either for their pleasure or profit."

As for the City's claim that the plaintiffs were volunteers, the Court disagreed.  The plaintiffs did not fall within the Department of Labor four part test for determining whether a person is a "volunteer" because the plaintiffs had no "civic, humanitarian, or charitable reasons" for performing the community service.  Consequently, the case could not be dismissed on those grounds.

However, when the Court looked to whether the plaintiffs were actually "employees" under the FLSA, the Court sided with the City's argument.  The facts demonstrated that the plaintiffs did not perform work "for the purpose of enabling them to earn a living."  The Court looked to the fact that the plaintiffs committed to do community service as a way to avoid harsher penalties for the crimes they committed.  Consequently, the Court held that under this reasoning, the plaintiffs were not employees under the FLSA. 

Judgment:  The District Court dismissed plaintiffs' claims on the grounds that doing community service in order to dismiss criminal charges did not qualify the plaintiffs to allege a valid FLSA lawsuit and claim they should be paid minimum wage for the community service they performed. 

The Takeaway:  I have to admit, of all the "novel" arguments I have seen, I am a bit surprised this type of issue has not come up before.  Given that it was an issue of first impression, I think the Court tracked the FLSA and Department of Labor guidelines effectively to reach the right conclusion.  If a party chooses to do something, like community service, in exchange for a dismissal or reduction of criminal charges, it is a bit far fetched to allow them to then claim they are also entitled to minimum wage for any work done.  These plaintiffs certainly had an interesting argument to make, but as the Court held, the community service work they performed, and the basis for doing so, did not justify designating them as "employees" that would be entitled to minimum wage.

Majority Opinion Judge:  Judge Furman

Date:  March 4, 2015

Opinion:  hr.cch.com/ELD/DoyleNewYork.pdf

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