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Dena' Nena' Henash v. Ipalook5/21/1999
Supreme Court Nos. S-8248/8268
Appeal from the Superior Court of the State of Alaska, Fourth Judicial District, Fairbanks, Jay Hodges, Judge.
I. INTRODUCTION
Catherine Ipalook filed a claim for unpaid overtime and liquidated damages pursuant to the Alaska Wage and Hour Act (AWHA) against her former employer, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc. (TCC). She alleged that her position as Patient Hostel Manager (PHM) was improperly classified as exempt from overtime. TCC counterclaimed for a complete offset of any damages, alleging that Ipalook had breached her fiduciary duty to TCC during her prior tenure as president.
Following a bench trial, the court held that Ipalook's position was not exempt from overtime payment and held that she had not breached her fiduciary duty. It awarded Ipalook $77,412.02 in unpaid overtime, an equal amount in liquidated damages, prejudgment interest from the date of the complaint, attorney's fees, and costs. TCC appeals the finding that Ipalook did not breach her fiduciary duty and also appeals the award of liquidated damages. Ipalook cross-appeals from the amount of the overtime pay award and from the prejudgment interest award. We affirm the judgment in favor of Ipalook but reverse the damages award.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Catherine Ipalook served as the president of TCC from March 1990 until March 1991. During her tenure as president, TCC operated a Patient Hostel in Fairbanks. TCC classified the PHM position as exempt from overtime compensation under the AWHA both before and during Ipalook's tenure as president.
On June 19, 1994, TCC hired Ipalook as the PHM. While Ipalook was in this position, TCC continued to treat the PHM position as exempt. TCC paid Ipalook a salary of $1,916.65 per month and provided her an apartment on the premises of the hostel. As PHM, Ipalook worked at the hostel during the day, but was also on-call twenty-four hours a day from 5:00 p.m. on Sunday until 5:00 p.m. on Friday.
A few months after she was hired as PHM, Ipalook filed a grievance, complaining that she was not accorded proper status as supervisor over the hostel. TCC agreed with Ipalook, but her immediate supervisor continued to deny Ipalook actual supervisory status.
Ipalook resigned from the PHM position on August 18, 1995. On November 21 she filed a wage claim under the AWHA, arguing that she was never actually a supervisor, and was therefore not exempt from overtime compensation . She alleged that she should have been paid overtime for the twenty-four hours per day that she was on-call.
TCC argued that the position was properly classified as exempt since Ipalook was a supervisory or executive employee. It also raised two breach of fiduciary duty counterclaims. Ipalook then filed a third- party complaint against the current president and the current personnel officer of TCC, seeking indemnification from them if she was found liable on either of TCC's counterclaims.
The case was tried to the superior court. The court held that Ipalook was supposed to have been a supervisor, but was never actually given supervisory authority, even after the grievance process. It thus held that Ipalook's position was not exempt from overtime compensation . The court further held that Ipalook had not breached her fiduciary duty to TCC, and that even if she had, her breach was not the legal cause of TCC's liability for overtime compensation.
The court held that Ipalook was entitled to $77,412.02 in overtime pay and an equal amount in mandatory liquidated damages. It calculated the award of overtime based solely on Ipalook's hourly rate, instead of using the
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