Kevin Kasten, Petitioner v. Saint-gobain Performance Plastics Corporation (563 U.S. 1)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 22, 2011 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 563 U.S. 1 · 131 S. Ct. 1325
- Decided
- March 22, 2011
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 6–2
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (Act) sets forth employment rules concerning minimum wages, maximum hours, and overtime pay. 52 Stat. 1060, 29 U. S. C. § 201 et seq. The Act contains an antiretaliation provision that forbids employers “to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to [the Act], or has testified or is about to testify in such proceeding, or has served or is about to serve on an industry committee.” § 215(a)(3) (emphasis added). We must decide whether the statutory term “filed any complaint” includes oral as well as written complaints within its scope. We conclude that it does. I The petitioner, Kevin Kasten, brought this antiretaliation lawsuit against his former employer, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation. Kasten says that Saint-Gobain located its timeclocks between the area where Kasten and other workers put on (and take off) their work-related protective gear and the area where they carry out their assigned tasks. That location prevented workers from receiving credit for the time they spent putting on and taking off their work clothes — contrary to the Act’s requirements. In a related suit the District Court agreed with Kasten, finding that…
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