''Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp.'', 567 U.S. 142 (2012), is a

US labor law United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the US. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "organized in ...

case of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. It held that

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

sales representatives were not eligible for

overtime pay Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

. The court ruled in a

majority opinion In law, a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision. Not all cases hav ...

written by Justice Samuel Alito that sales representatives were classified as "outside salesmen" who are exempt from the

Department of Labor A ministry of labour (''British English, UK''), or labor (''American English, US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workfor ...

's regulations regarding overtime pay.

Facts

Michael Christopher and Frank Buchanan worked for

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

, and claimed overtime pay under the

Fair Labor Standards Act The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) is a United States labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, and " time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibits employment of minors in "oppre ...

. They argued they were employees under 29 USC § 207(a), while GSK contended they were acting ‘in the capacity of outside salesman’ under § 213(a).. In turn 29 C.F.R. § 541.500 defined ‘outside salesman’ as ‘any employee’ whose duty was ‘making sales’ under § 203(k) which said that included ‘any sale, exchange, contract to sell’ and so on. Christopher and Buchanan were sales representatives for around four years from 2003, who marketed to physicians to buy the company's products. They spent 40 hours a week calling physicians, and another 10 to 20 hours attending events and performing other miscellaneous tasks. Their pay included a salary and bonus pay, based on performance in selling. In a

class action lawsuit A class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage R ...

, they sought time and a half for over 40 hours work. The

United States District Court for the District of Arizona The United States District Court for the District of Arizona (in case citations, D. Ariz.) is the U.S. district court that covers the state of Arizona. It is under the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The District was esta ...

granted a judgment in favor of GlaxoSmithKline. After the

filed an '' amicus'' in a related case in the

Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, and it has appellate jurisdic ...

, they appealed to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

in California, which affirmed the lower court's decision. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Judgment

Supreme Court held, by a five to four majority, that Christopher and Buchanan were not entitled to overtime pay under the

, because they were effecting sales within the Act's exception in § 213(a). Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the court, in which Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas joined. Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan joined.

References

External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp.'', {{ussc, 567, 142, 2012, el=no , cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/11-204 , courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/802408/christopher-v-smithkline-beecham-corp/ , googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8691037892334429353 , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/567/142/ , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/2011/11-204 , other_source1 = Supreme Court (slip opinion) (archived) , other_url1 =https://web.archive.org/web/0/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-204.pdf United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court United States labor case law 2012 in United States case law GSK plc litigation 2012 in labor relations

Facts

Judgment

See also

References

External links