California Public Employee Relations (CPER) Papers
CPER Selected Publications
From Don to Doff Shalt Thou Pay
Article comments
This article appeared in California Public Employee Relations (CPER) Journal, No. 177 (April 2006). For more information on the CPER Program, go to http://cper.berkeley.edu/.
Abstract
Many employees are required to wear safety and/or sanitary gear to properly perform their jobs. Such employees may spend several minutes at the beginning of each work shift waiting in line to retrieve such gear, putting it on, and then walking to their work stations before finally beginning their assigned tasks. Then, at the conclusion of each workday, those same employees spend additional minutes walking back to their changing areas, removing their required gear, and returning it to the employer’s designated storage facility.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently addressed the extent to which such employee activities, essential to an employee’s ability to perform the tasks for which he or she was hired, are compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act.1 The decision provides employers and employees with important guidance in determining which hours spent by employees on an employer’s premises are compensable, but it does not break much new ground. The decision likely will have little impact in the public sector because the overwhelming majority of public sector employees are not required to be at the worksite prior to the scheduled start of their shift. However, because some public sector employers may be affected, this article sets out the logic of the court’s decision against the backdrop of previous FLSA jurisprudence, considers the significance and limitations of the decision, and concludes with some practical suggestions.
Subject Area
Employment Practice, General Law
Recommended Citation
Peter Brown Esq. and Didier Reiss Esq.,
"From Don to Doff Shalt Thou Pay"
(May 2006).
California Public Employee Relations (CPER) Papers.
CPER Selected Publications.
Working Paper 19.
http://law.bepress.com/cperselect/papers/art19
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