Back in 2016, one of the first posts I wrote on this blog concerned whether the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applied to Native American tribes.  My conclusion was that there was currently no clear answer in Minnesota.  However, we were recently given a bit more clarity. On June 28, 2021, the federal District Court of Minnesota dismissed a case brought against the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (“Band”) for, among other things, alleged violation of the Equal Pay Act (EPA), 29 U.S.C.  206(d), which is a part of the FLSA. In Butler v. Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, et. al, Judge Doty granted the Band’s motion to dismiss based on lack of jurisdiction.

In Butler, the Plaintiff was a director of the Band from 2018, until her termination in 2020. She thereafter filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (not the Band’s Tribal Court). The Band sought to have the lawsuit dismissed based on lack of jurisdiction (i.e., arguing the federal court is the wrong court to decide the matter) due to tribal sovereign immunity. Judge Doty held that the Band did not waive its sovereign immunity and the EPA lacks Congressional abrogation of the Band’s sovereign immunity. In other words, a tribe may only be sued where Congress has authorized it or the tribe has waived its immunity.  The Court concluded, “As such, the Band is immune from suit.”

However, Judge Doty took it one step further (thank you, Your Honor), and opined that, even if the Band were not immune, federal statutes, including the FLSA and its EPA, do not apply to, “Indian tribes when the matters at issue are purely internal, as here.” As to the EPA claim, the Court relied on guidance from Snyder v. Navajo Nation (9th Cir. 2004), noting that, “…the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes the EPA, does not apply to Indian tribes when the law would interfere with tribal self-government).” So, there it is…one mystery partially solved, 5 years later…