Northeastern Edition New York Delaware New Jersey Pennsylvania
Maryland Connecticut Rhode Island Massachusetts
33
YEARS
www.autobodynews.com ww ww.autobodynews.com
2015 NORTHEAST Features 50 Exhibitors, an Industry Showdown, and Tony Passwater’s Seminar, “How Have We Gotten Where the Industry is Today?” by Chasidy Rae Sisk
On Friday, March 20th, the first day of spring kicked off with snow as attendees arrived at the AASP-NJ’s 2015 NORTHEAST™ Automotive Services
Show. By 5PM when the expo floor opened at the Meadowlands in Seacaucus, NJ, several inches of powder covered the ground. Despite the weather, collision repair industry professionals from the region and around the country eagerly flooded the building to see a variety of exhibitors and to receive vital education from some of the industry’s most revered speakers. Friday’s festivities began with AASP-National’s Spring Board meeting followed by the East Coast ResoSee ‘15 NORTHEAST Features, Page 18
Buffalo, NY, Native Who Competed in WorldSkills Competition Discusses Lack of Education in Collision Repair Field by Victoria Antonelli, Online Editor
The door panel that Nathaneal Wagner painted during the 2013 WorldSkills automotive refinish competition in Leipzig, Germany
the country’s top automotive refinish students. Wagner had been home-schooled before he heard about the local Harkness collision repair program available See WorldSkills Competition, Page 28
Change Service Requested
P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018
Nathanael Wagner, who only knew about the 2011 regional SkillsUSA competition in western New York weeks before it happened, went on to place 16th in automotive refinish during the 2013 WorldSkills competition. This year, the event will be in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from August 11-16. The WorldSkills competition is held every two years. In 2013, Wagner competed against the top 32 students in the world in Leipzig, Germany. Between the regional and international competitions, Wagner competed on a national level against 50 of
VOL. 6 ISSUE 2 MAY 2015
Willets Point Shops Settle Lawsuit, Vacate Queens to Allow Construction of $3 B Mall by Autobody News Staff, Wire Stories
The final 50 or so business holdouts in Queens who resisted a $3 billion mixed-use development planned for a site west of Citi Field, have settled a lawsuit with the city and the project’s developers, paving the way for the first phase of construction of the massive facility. The impacted businesses filed a lawsuit on Feb. 4 against the city and the developers, Sterling Equities and Related Companies, alleging they were unlawfully forced out by the project, which will be partially built on city parkland. The businesses, known as the Sunrise Cooperative, have agreed to vacate Willets Point by June 1, though many have already left. Under the agreement, dated March 19, all litiga-
tion was dropped and a $5.8 million escrow fund was created to aid in the businesses’ move to the Bronx. In return, the city will pay a total of $4.8 million into the escrow fund, while the development team of the Related Companies and Sterling Equities will contribute $960,000. The cooperative, a collection of nearly 50 businesses that have operated along the unpaved streets in a part of Corona, will also be required to contribute $143,000 to the fund. “Sunrise is happy that they got to an agreement,” said the Urban Justice Center’s Harvey Epstein, who represented the group in court. “We look forward to building a large auto co-op, and to everyone in New York starting to use it.” The cash can also be used by See Willets Point Shops Settle, Page 14
Ninth Circuit Holds Service Advisors Non-Exempt Under FLSA Dealership “Salesman” Exemption; Section 7(i) Exemption Is Still Available by Colin Calvert and Todd Scherwin, Fisher & Phillips LLP
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (with jurisdiction over the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) has ruled in Navarro v. Encino Motorcars, LLC that Service Advisors employed by automobile dealerships do not qualify for the Section 13(b)(10)(A) overtime exemption under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). It is the first court to have held this way.
“Service Advisor” Status under the FLSA Section 13(b)(10)(A) exempts from the FLSA’s overtime requirements “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm im-
plements, if he is employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling such vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers.” Historically, this exemption has been extended to Service Advisors. Beginning in 1973, in the federal appellate decision in Brennan v. Deel Motors, Inc., and continuing to as recently as 2013 in the Montana Supreme Court’s decision in Thompson v. J.C. Billion, Inc., courts have uniformly held that Service Advisors are covered by that exemption. The Department of Labor’s Revision to its Administrative Regulations However, the U.S. Labor Department’s (USDOL) track record in this area has been inconsistent. At some times in the past, it has said that ServSee Advisors Non-Exempt, Page 36
Presorted Standard US Postage PAID San Bernardino, CA Permit #2244