Berry

OVERVIEW

Gregory Berry (Berry), Phillip Marcus (Marcus), Dennis McAllister (McAllister), and Francis Oravetz (Oravetz), current and former deputy coroners (collectively referred to as “the coroners”) brought this action against their employer, the Sonoma County Sheriffs Department, the County of Sonoma and the Sonoma Board of Supervisors (collectively referred to as “Sonoma County”), seeking overtime compensation for time spent waiting on-call from December 1986 until the present pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq. The district court held that Sonoma County had violated the FLSA by failing to compensate the coroners for on-call waiting time and awarded them damages and attorneys’ fees pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216 (b). However, the district court limited its award by holding that Sonoma County’s FLSA violation was in good faith, based on a reasonable belief of compliance, and was not willful. As a result, the coroners were not entitled to liquidated damages, see 29 U.S.C. § 260 , and the statute of limitations was two years, instead of three years, see 29 U.S.C. § 255 (a). 1 Sonoma County appeals the judgment for the coroners. The…