David Austin and Denise Austin, Husband and Wife Mary Katherine Gojkovich, a Single Person v. City of Bisbee, Arizona, a Body Politic

In November 1985, Mary Katherine Go-jkovich and David Austin, police officers for the City of Bisbee, Arizona, sued the city under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., for overtime pay for the hours the officers spent “on-call” while off-duty. They argue that Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528 , 105 S.Ct. 1005 , 83 L.Ed.2d 1016 (1985), which extended FLSA protections to all state and local government employees, entitles them to overtime compensation. Because we find that Garcia should not be applied retroactively to public employees engaged in traditional governmental functions, and that Congress did not unconstitutionally take away a property right when it amended the FLSA to postpone liability under Garcia until April 15, 1986, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Appellant Austin seeks overtime compensation under 29 U.S.C. §§ 207 , 216(b) for 4,340 hours he allegedly spent on call between December 18,1983 and April 6,1985. Appellant Gojkovieh likewise seeks compensation for 2,910 hours she allegedly was on-call between November 28, 1983 and June 2, 1984. During this period the City’s policy was to require, as a condition of…