U.S. Supreme Court rules that service advisors are exempt from overtime requirements

According to the Equipment Dealers Association (EDA), the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided (5-4) on April 2nd that service advisors are exempt from Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements. This decision, which applies to “any salesman, partsman or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements,” was made on Encino Motorcars v. Navarro.

A group of former service advisors, including Navarro, who worked at Encino Motorcars argued that because the service advisor position is not mentioned explicitly in the FLSA, that the exemption should not apply to them.

The assenting opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, states “a service advisor is obviously a salesman.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg led the dissent saying “Because service advisors neither sell nor repair automobiles, they should remain outside the exemption and within the act’s coverage.”

Both opinions in full are available here.