SCOTUS Agrees to Hear GSK
This morning, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in the case of Christopher v. Smithkline Beechman regarding the issue of the outside sales exemption in the pharmaceutical industry. This means the high court will decide the issue once and for all and resolve the Circuit split between the 9th and the 2nd. Another issue the justices will consider is the degree of deference an agency must be afforded. In both the circuit court cases the Department of Labor had filed amicus briefs (friend of the court) in favor of the reps. The industry had and will continue to argue that these interpretations just parrot the statute and are thus entitled to no deference. This is a hard argument to swallow and while the 9th did adopt it, it seems unlikely that the high court would be persuaded by it. If the agency is accorded deference then the reps will be entitled to overtime. Scalia in an concurrence earlier this year (Talk America) criticized the use of so called Auer deference, but the other justices still seem to consider it good law. Oral argument on the case is likely to occur before the end of the current term in April.
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