The U.S. Supreme Court just issued its much-anticipated ruling in Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham, ruling 5-4 that pharmaceutical sales reps are exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) outside sales exemption.
The ruling is considered a major victory for pharmaceutical employers. In short, the Supreme Court found that the U.S. Department of Labor’s arguments were “flatly inconsistent” with the statute itself. As a result, pharma employers weren’t on “clear notice” of potential violations and the DOL’s enforcement was an “unfair surprise.”
While the ruling basically only applies to pharmaceutical companies, it could make the Department of Labor think a bit longer and harder before taking other aggressive FLSA positions to court.
Click here to read the full 14-page Supreme Court opinion.
This was originally published on Manpower Group’s Employment Blawg.
