Moreau v. Klevenhagen
Headline: Ruling lets public employers in states that ban public-sector bargaining give overtime as comp time through individual employee agreements when the union lacks lawful bargaining authority.
Holding: The Court held that employees are "covered" by the comp-time bargaining clause only if they designate a representative with lawful authority to bargain, so individual comp-time agreements were allowed here.
- Allows public employers in non-bargaining states to offer comp time via individual agreements.
- Unions without lawful bargaining authority cannot prevent employers from using comp time.
- Clarifies when a union must lawfully bargain to trigger representative comp-time agreements.
Summary
Background
A group of about 400 Harris County deputy sheriffs, represented by their union president, sued the county after the county paid overtime with compensatory time off instead of extra pay. The union had handled grievances and other matters for years but Texas law barred the union from entering a collective-bargaining agreement with the county. Each deputy had an individual form agreement that referenced county rules giving one and one-half hours of comp time for each overtime hour. The deputies challenged the county’s use of comp time under a 1985 change to the federal overtime law.
Reasoning
The Court focused on the 1985 amendment that allows public employers to use comp time only when there is an agreement either (1) with a representative or (2) with individual employees. The key question was whether employees who name a union representative are automatically treated as covered by the representative-based agreement. The Court rejected two extremes and read the statute and the Labor Department’s regulation together to require that a designated representative must have lawful authority to bargain and enter agreements. Because Texas law prevented the union from lawfully bargaining, the deputies were not covered by the representative-based option, and the county could rely on individual agreements.
Real world impact
The decision means public employers in states that prohibit public-sector bargaining can use individual comp-time agreements when a union lacks lawful bargaining authority. It clarifies that only representatives who can legally negotiate and sign comp-time agreements will trigger the representative-based requirement, leaving employers free to use other authorized methods when such authority is absent.
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