In Green Bay Sportservice, Inc. v. DWD (2017AP608), the Court of Appeals District II held that concessionaire for Lambeau Field, Green Bay Sportservice, does not meet standards of a seasonal recreational establishment that would exempt it from paying employees overtime.

Green Bay Sportservice (GBS) operates concessions for Green Bay Packers games at Lambeau Field and operates a year-round restaurant in Lambeau Field that is open to the public. GBS employees filed a complaint that GBS failed to pay them overtime. GBS claimed it was exempt because it is a seasonal recreational establishment under Wis. Admin. Code § DWD 274.04(8).

The court ruled that GBS was not exempt from overtime payments because it failed to meet the recreational establishment and seasonal requirements in the Department of Workforce Development regulations. GBS is not a recreational establishment because its year-round restaurant prevents it from being considered a “single establishment” with recreational establishment Lambeau Field. Furthermore, GBS’s non-concession operations outside of game days are not de minimis, so it cannot be considered solely a recreational establishment for football games hosted at Lambeau Field. GBS also failed the seasonal requirement because it failed to produce evidence that it operates significantly more during one half of the year than the other, thus requiring GBS to pay employees overtime.