By: Derek Hawkins//January 30, 2018//
WI Court of Appeals – District IV
Case Name: Christopher Kieninger, et al. v. Crown Equipment Corporation, LLC
Case No.: 2017AP631
Officials: Lundsten, P.J., Sherman and Fitzpatrick JJ.
Focus: Employment Law Wage Dispute – ECFA Standard
Christopher Kieninger and Dewayne Meek, both former employees of Crown Equipment Corporation, appeal the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Crown on their Wisconsin wage law claim. Kieninger and Meek are representatives of a class of employees who work, or have worked, for Crown. They argue that the circuit court erred by applying the legal standard from the federal Employee Commuting Flexibility Act (ECFA), a 1996 amendment to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. They further argue that, under Wisconsin’s wage law, they are entitled to summary judgment.
We agree with the employees that the circuit court erred by applying the federal standard from ECFA. Wisconsin’s wage law lacks language analogous to ECFA, and Crown’s argument for applying the ECFA standard is not persuasive. Therefore, we conclude that the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment to Crown based on the legal standard from ECFA.
However, we do not go so far as to conclude that the employees are entitled to summary judgment because, as we conclude in this opinion, the ECFA standard does not apply. We lack sufficient adversarial briefing on the correct Wisconsin standard and, additionally, we are uncertain whether under the correct standard there might be one or more genuine issues of material fact. Accordingly, we reverse summary judgment and remand to the circuit court for further proceedings. If the circuit court permits, those further proceedings might include additional summary judgment argument and submissions.