In an unanimous decision issued November 8, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court held that employees must be paid for time spent walking to their work stations after putting on (donning) specialized protective gear required by the job and for time spent walking from work stations to the place the gear is removed (doffing).
In an unanimous decision issued November 8, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court held that employees must be paid for time spent walking to their work stations after putting on (donning) specialized protective gear required by the job and for time spent walking from work stations to the place the gear is removed (doffing). See IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez. The Court also held that employees must be paid for time spent waiting to remove required specialized protective gear, but not for time spent waiting to don such gear.
In IBP, which involved two cases consolidated for Supreme Court review, the Court noted that the lower courts had determined that the required specialized protective gear worn by the employees was integral and indispensable to the employees' work. Thus, in accordance with Supreme Court precedent, the time the employees spent donning this gear and doffing it each day is considered part of the employees' principal activities for which compensation is required under the Portal-to-Portal Act. (The Portal-to-Portal Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1947 to provide, among other things, that activities which are preliminary and postliminary to the employee's principal work activities are not covered by the FLSA.)
Here, the Court held that because the employees' principal activities include donning and doffing required specialized protective gear, the employees' workday begins and ends with the donning and doffing of the gear. Furthermore, the locker rooms where the required specialized protective gear is donned and doffed are the relevant places of performance of the employees' principal activities. Accordingly, during a continuous workday, any walking that occurs after the beginning of the employee's first principal activity (donning specialized protective gear) and before the end of the employee's last principal activity (doffing the specialized protective gear) is covered by the FLSA.
Additionally, the Court held that time spent waiting to doff required specialized protective gear is covered by the FLSA because it is part of the continuous workday. However, time spent waiting before donning required specialized protective gear at the start of the workday is not covered by the FLSA because such activity is preliminary to the employee's principal activity and, as such, is specifically excluded from FLSA coverage by the Portal-to-Portal Act.
Employers' Bottom Line:
Although the Supreme Court's decision involves a fairly narrow area of the FLSA, it may have a significant impact on the pay practices of some employers. If you have questions about this decision and its potential impact on your workplace, or any other labor or employment related issue, please contact the Ford & Harrison attorney with whom you usually work.