Employment Law | Expert Legal Commentary
January 11, 2010
Boucher v. Shaw: Imposing Personal Liability on Corporate Agents for FLSA Claims
Boucher v. Shaw
By
Jeremy J. Gray of Zuber & Taillieu
The Ninth Circuit U.S Court of Appeals has held that personal liability for unpaid wages and overtime compensation under Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) can be imposed upon individual corporate managers who exercise control over the employment relationship, even though the corporation has filed for bankruptcy protection. In Boucher v. Shaw, 572 F.3d 1087 (9th Cir. 2009), the Court found that the individual managers could be “employers” under the FLSA definition, and therefore any manager who falls under the definition could be liable to employees for minimum wage and/or overtime wages in addition to an equal amount in liquidated damages. The Court determined that the corporation’s bankruptcy filing did not remove the managers’ FLSA liability because the managers were not parties to the bankruptcy proceeding, the employees’ wage claims were not directed at any assets in the bankruptcy, and the managers’ liability was therefore independent of the bankruptcy proceeding.
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About the Author
Jeremy J. Gray is a Partner of Zuber & Taillieu, focusing on employment law.
Image Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/AlexKalina
