In Benjamin v. B&H Education, the 9th Circuit upheld a trial court’s declaration that plaintiff cosmetology students are not entitled to recover wages because they are not employees within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), or under California and Nevada state law, even though a large portion of their time was spent on menial and unsupervised work. The Court reasoned that under the “primary beneficiary” test articulated in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, the cosmetology students were not employees because they, rather than the schools, were the primary beneficiaries of their labors. In other words, because the main purpose of the coursework and corresponding experience gained servicing real salon customers was for students to become licensed cosmetologists, the students were not employees of the school and the trial court was correct to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims for unpaid wages on summary judgment.

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