In an order filed September 13, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico conditionally certified a collective of salaried care management workers in Enriquez v. Guidance Center of Lea County, Inc., No. CIV 21-0647 JB/SMV. The court also authorized notice by mail, email, and text. In this Guidance Center of Lea County overtime lawsuit, the group was made up of salaried workers in Care Management Employee job titles whom the employer treated as exempt from overtime. Jack Siegel, with co-counsel, represented the workers.
The court held a hearing on the motion on September 2, 2022. Judge James O. Browning signed the order granting the plaintiff’s Motion for Step-One Notice Pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court gave its reasons on the record at that hearing, and the order says a more detailed written memorandum opinion would follow.
The collective the court conditionally certified in 2022 was the group defined in the plaintiff’s motion: “Individuals employed by Defendant in [Care Management Employee] Job Titles in the last three years who were paid on a salary basis and treated by Defendant as exempt from state and federal overtime laws”.
The order authorized notice to that group “by United States mail, email, and text.” The three-page order does not list an opt-in period or other notice details.
The group was defined by how workers were paid and classified, not by one job title, and the order does not list which titles counted as Care Management Employee job titles. Text notice, on top of mail and email, gave workers a third way to learn about the case.
Conditional certification is an early step, not a finding that anyone was misclassified or that Guidance Center of Lea County broke the law.
As general information, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires overtime pay at one and a half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, unless an exemption applies. A salary does not by itself make a worker exempt (see salary vs. hourly pay and overtime). The employer has to prove an exemption, such as the administrative exemption. The order does not say which exemption the employer relied on, and it does not name a state statute.
As general information, federal courts in New Mexico have generally handled FLSA collective actions in two steps. At step one, a court decides under a lenient standard whether notice should go to similarly situated workers (see how collective action certification works). Some federal appeals courts have since changed this approach — the Fifth Circuit in Swales v. KLLM Transport Services (2021) and the Sixth Circuit in Clark v. A&L Homecare & Training Center (2023). This order does not state the standard the court applied.
This page describes a 2022 court order. The time to join that collective was set by the court in that case. If you have worked in a similar role, the Siegel Law Group can evaluate your own claims.
Have you worked in care management, for example as a care coordinator or case manager, while paid a salary and treated as exempt? If you worked more than 40 hours in a week without overtime pay, a lawyer can review how you were paid.
Contact the Siegel Law Group for a free consultation.
Related rulings: Spencer v. Mental Health Resources, another District of New Mexico case involving care coordinators.
A federal court in New Mexico granted step-one notice in Enriquez v. Guidance Center of Lea County, Inc. in an order filed September 13, 2022. It conditionally certified salaried workers in Care Management Employee job titles whom the employer treated as exempt. Notice could go out by mail, email, and text.
The group the court conditionally certified in 2022 reached people the Guidance Center of Lea County had employed in Care Management Employee job titles during the prior three years. They also had to have been paid on a salary basis and treated by the employer as exempt from state and federal overtime laws. The order does not list the titles, and the deadline to join was one that court set.
No. Under federal law, pay on a salary basis is only one part of most exemptions, and the employer must also show that the worker’s real main duties fit an exemption. A care management employee paid a salary may still be owed overtime, depending on the work actually done.
It asks the court to approve sending notice of a collective action to workers who may be in the same position as the plaintiff. Under the FLSA, a worker joins only by filing a written consent. Granting the motion is an early step, not a ruling on who wins.
The Siegel Law Group is a national overtime and wage law firm devoted entirely to representing workers denied overtime pay. Where many firms include wage cases as a small part of a broader employment practice, the Siegel Law Group has built its entire practice around overtime litigation — and the results reflect that commitment: $100M+ recovered for workers, 50+ class and collective action certifications, and 100+ federal lawsuits filed in 27+ federal courts nationwide. Founding attorney Jack Siegel is a Bloomberg BNA contributing author on wage and hour law.
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