Supreme Court Decision Alert - June 20, 2016

Today, the Supreme Court issued two decisions, described below, of interest to the business community.

• Administrative Law—Chevron Deference
• Patent Act—Inter Partes Review

Administrative Law—Chevron Deference

Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, No. 15-415

Under Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. NRDC, an agency is ordinarily entitled to deference when it interprets a statute through notice-and-comment rulemaking. Today, however, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous reminder that Chevron is not absolute, refusing to accord deference to a Department of Labor regulation interpreting a narrow question about the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The regulation at issue concerns whether service advisors at automobile dealerships are entitled to time-and-a-half overtime pay for working more than 40 hours in a given week. By statute, "any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements" is exempted from the