Strickland

Opinion by Judge CHOY; Dissent by Judge POOLE.

Robert Williams appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment against his minimum wage and overtime claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219 (“FLSA”). The district court held that Williams, who spent six months at an Adult Rehabilitation Center of the Salvation Army, was never an employee of the Salvation Army for purposes of the FLSA. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

I

We consider the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Williams. Jesinger v. Nevada Fed. Credit Union, 24 F.3d 1127, 1130 (9th Cir.1994).

The Salvation Army is a nonprofit religious and charitable organization which runs both Adult Rehabilitation Centers and thrift stores. At the Rehabilitation Centers, the Salvation Army offers beneficiaries room, board, work therapy, and spiritual and religious counseling for periods up to six months. Beneficiaries are required to apply for general assistance and food stamps and turn those benefits over to the Army to offset the cost of their room and board.

Williams applied for admission to the San Francisco Rehabilitation Center. Homeless…

dissenting.

The majority concludes that Williams was not an “employee” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) because he had neither an expressed or implied agreement for compensation with the Salvation Army, and that his relationship with the Salvation Army was solely rehabilitative. Because I believe that there are material disputes of fact regarding Williams’s employment status with the Salvation Army, I respectfully dissent.

*1069 I believe this ease is governed by the holding in Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor, 471 U.S. 290 , 105 S.Ct. 1953 , 85 L.Ed.2d 278 (1985). In Alamo Foundation, the Supreme Court concluded that workers participating in the commercial portions of a nonprofit religious organization were covered by the FLSA. This was so despite the fact that no worker claimed to have ever expected compensation. Id. at 300-01 , 105 S.Ct. at 1960-61 . Considering the economic reality of the situation, the Court concluded that because the workers worked for the Foundation for long stretches of time, even years, the district court did not clearly err in concluding that the workers must have expected some sort of compensation. Id. at 301 , 105…