Casseus, et al. v. Eastern Bus Company, Inc., et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-024-18)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC-12315 IBNER CASSEUS[1] & another[2] vs. EASTERN BUS COMPANY, INC., & another.[3] Middlesex. October 2, 2017. – February 8, 2018. Present: Gants, C.J., Lenk, Gaziano, Lowy, Budd, Cypher, & Kafker, JJ. Labor, Overtime compensation. Bus. Carrier, Charter service, License. School and School Committee, Transportation of students. Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on May 30, 2014. Motions for summary judgment were heard by Dennis J. Curran, J. An application for leave to prosecute an interlocutory appeal was allowed by Gabrielle R. Wolohojian, J., in the Appeals Court. The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court. Damien M. DiGiovanni (Joseph P. McConnell also present) for the defendants. Ian O. Russell for the plaintiffs. Peter J. Pingitore, for School Transportation Association of Massachusetts, Inc., amicus curiae, submitted a brief. LENK, J. This case requires us to construe an exemption to the Massachusetts overtime statute. The overtime statute generally requires employers to pay an overtime premium to employees who work more than forty hours in a given week. G. L. c. 151, § 1A. The statute, however, “shall not be applicable to any employee who is employed . . . by an employer licensed and regulated pursuant to [G. L. c. 159A],” which governs motor vehicle common carriers of passengers in Massachusetts. See G. L. c. 151, § 1A (11); G. L. c. 159A. The plaintiffs are bus drivers whose employer, the defendant Eastern Bus Company, Inc. (Eastern Bus), provides two types of transportation: charter service, for which Eastern Bus must hold a license under the common carrier statute; and transportation of pupils between home and school, which does not constitute charter service. See G. L. c. 159A, § 11A. The bus drivers perform both of these services. They claim that they are entitled to overtime payment. Their argument is twofold. The bus drivers first assert that Eastern Bus is only “licensed and regulated” under the common carrier statute during the hours when it is providing charter service. The exemption, then, only applies during those hours, and not when Eastern Bus is providing school transportation. The bus drivers further argue that this overtime exemption should be interpreted in the same manner as two similarly structured Federal overtime exemptions. These Federal exemptions, for certain employees of air and rail common carriers, are not applied to employees who spend a substantial […]