Nyesha Swope v. Episcopal Foundation of Jefferson County

── Nyesha Swope v. Episcopal Foundation of Jefferson County ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: May 08, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 24-12984 Document: 75-1 Date Filed: 05/08/2026 Page: 1 of 25 NOT FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 24-12984 ____________________ NYESHA SWOPE, ANDREA TURNER, ANGELA BLAKE, CLARA BUTLER, MELANIE HOUGH, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross Appellees, versus EPISCOPAL FOUNDATION OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, d.b.a. St. Martin’s in the Pines, Defendant-Appellee-Cross Appellant. ____________________ Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 2:21-cv-01392-AMM ____________________ USCA11 Case: 24-12984 Document: 75-1 Date Filed: 05/08/2026 Page: 2 of 25 2 Opinion of the Court 24-12984 Before BRANCH, LUCK, Circuit Judges, and MORENO,* District Judge. MORENO, District Judge: This appeal concerns the calculation of overtime pay and the denial of protected leave during the Covid-19 pandemic at a retirement and assisted living facility. Plaintiffs brought collective and individual claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Following cross-motions for sum- mary judgment, the district court granted each motion in part. Af- ter careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we find no reversible error and affirm the district court’s ruling. I. BACKGROUND A. Factual Background St. Martin’s in the Pines (“St. Martin’s”) is a retirement and assisted living facility. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Nyesha Swope worked at the facility as a Certified Nursing Assis- tant. 1. Payment Practices at St. Martin’s During this time, St. Martin’s established a Covid-19 ward to isolate residents who tested positive and instituted a series of finan- cial incentives to encourage employees to take shifts, including * The Honorable Federico A. Moreno, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, sitting by designation. USCA11 Case: 24-12984 Document: 75-1 Date Filed: 05/08/2026 Page: 3 of 25 24-12984 Opinion of the Court 3 shifts in the Covid-19 ward. Four incentives are relevant for pur- poses of this appeal. First, St. Martin’s paid Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Certified Nursing Assistants an extra $3 an hour and caregivers an extra $2 an hour for work performed during the pan- demic. We refer to this bonus as “add-on pay.” Second, employees working in the Covid-19 ward earned an additional $2 per hour. We refer to this bonus as “hazard pay.” Third, St. Martin’s paid a $100 bonus to care staff that picked up and fully completed an unsched- uled eight-hour or twelve-hour shift on the weekends. We refer to this bonus as the “weekend bonus.” Finally, St. Martin’s paid em- ployees two one-time bonuses in July and December of 2020. These “retention bonuses,” as we will refer to them, were “paid to reward employees who stayed through the pandemic, but it was not announced to employees in advance that