[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 22-13376 ____________________

WILLIAM M. SPEARS, JR., Plaintiff-Appellee, versus BAY INN & SUITES FOLEY, LLC, et al.,

Defendants,

RICK PATEL, RICK PATEL, JR.,

Defendants-Appellants.

____________________ USCA11 Case: 22-13376 Document: 66-1 Date Filed: 06/20/2024 Page: 2 of 18

2 Opinion of the Court 22-13376

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cv-00269-C ____________________

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and JORDAN and BRASHER, Cir- cuit Judges. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: This appeal requires us to decide whether the district court erred when it ruled that a wage-earning hotel manager who exer- cised some financial control is an employer subject to individual liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act and when it considered the stipulated value of an employee’s lodging in calculating over- time pay but excluded that stipulated value from the calculation of hourly wages. William Spears worked as a front desk clerk at hotels operated by Rick Patel Sr. and his son, Rick “Sunny” Patel Jr. Spears was compensated with monthly paychecks and onsite lodging. Spears sued the Patels and the hotel entities under the Act for wages owed and unpaid overtime. Following a bench trial, the magistrate judge ruled that Sunny was an employer individually li- able for the violations. In calculating Spears’s damages, the magis- trate judge considered the stipulated value of Spears’s lodging for unpaid overtime but declined to include it in the minimum-wage calculation. Because Sunny was involved in the day-to-day opera- tion of the hotels and exercised some financial control, we affirm the ruling that Sunny was an employer under the Act. But we va- cate and remand for recalculation of damages. USCA11 Case: 22-13376 Document: 66-1 Date Filed: 06/20/2024 Page: 3 of 18

22-13376 Opinion of the Court 3

I. BACKGROUND William Spears worked as a front desk clerk for nearly a decade at various hotels in Alabama operated by Rick Patel Sr. and his son, Rick “Sunny” Patel Jr. Throughout his employment, Spears worked night shifts, usually 62 hours a week. His tasks included checking guests into and out of the hotel, answering the phone, making reservations, and sometimes performing housekeeping and maintenance tasks. Spears was paid $700 to $750 a month. Rick ordinarily signed these paychecks, but Sunny would sometimes sign them instead. Spears also received onsite lodging, which the parties stipulated was worth $630 a week. Because Rick was based in Florida, Sunny handled day-to-day operations at the Alabama hotels. Spears interacted mostly with Sunny, not Rick. Like Spears, Sunny lived onsite and was a wage- earning employee. Spears testified that Sunny was his immediate supervisor and that Sunny assigned Spears tasks and scheduled his shifts. At Sunny’s direction, Spears would adj