Overtime Case Regarding Special Investigators and Senior Special Investigators by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.
Recently, in April of 2010, the United States District Court for the Eastern Division of Ohio heard a case regarding the administrative exemption for a FLSA overtime case. (See Foster v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., 2010 WL 1404596 (S.D.Ohio)). In Foster, the trial court denied the motions for summary judgment because there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether the primary duty of Nationwide’s’ Special Investigators “includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.” Id.
At issue in this case were attached declarations to the Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment. Id. Defendant objected to their use in that Defendant did not get an opportunity to take their deposition. Id. But this Court concluded that even if the declarations were taken out of the equation, the initial court’s ruling would still have been the same. Id. There was plenty of evidence to support the initial finding. The Plaintiffs’ administrative assistance lawyer filed a good case.
