Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of Labor v. A-One Medical Services, Inc. Alternative Rehabilitation Home Healthcare, Inc. Lorraine Black and Hanahn Korman

The Secretary of Labor brought this suit on behalf of eight former employees of A-One Medical Services, Inc. (A-One) and Alternative Rehabilitation Home Healthcare, Inc. (Alternative) to recover unpaid overtime wages for work between July 1998 and January 2000. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Secretary, who was awarded both the overtime wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Because this case was decided on summary judgment, we are required, as was the district court, to view all facts in the light most favorable to the defendants. Diruzza v. County of Tehama, 323 F.3d 1147, 1152 (9th Cir.2003). To that end, all of the facts below, unless otherwise noted, come from Lorraine Black’s and Hanahn Korman’s depositions, interrogatories or. briefs.

As of 1996, Black and Korman independently owned and operated, respectively, A-One and Alternative, Washington state corporations engaged in the business of providing health services to patients in their homes. That year, Black entered into negotiations with Korman for A-One to purchase Alternative. Black was interested in the purchase of Alternative…