Portal-To-Portal Act

‘Donning’ and ‘Doffing,’ Reasonable Time Versus Actual Time, and What It Takes for Pay Practices to Comply with the FLSA

February 28, 2025 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

One of the more thorny Fair Labor Standards Act issues for employers is ensuring proper compensation of employees who spend time doing activities that are essential but tangential to their jobs. Even if workers spend only minutes each day on these activities, the law says they are entitled to payment for that time, so employers should ensure that they are recording and compensating this time appropriately. Given how complicated this can be, consulting an experienced Atlanta wage and hour lawyer is vital to ensuring that your pay practices comply with the law.

Previously, this blog published posts, including one earlier this month, about questions surrounding the proper compensation of office workers for the time they spent starting up and shutting down their computers (and various applications necessary for their work.) Another area of industry where pre-shift/post-shift tasks may present pay problems is manufacturing, specifically, manufacturing workers who must put on and take off essential personal protective equipment (PPE) at the beginning and end of each shift.

In December, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia addressed this issue of pre-shift/post-shift duties. The defendant was an employer that operated a battery manufacturing and recycling facility. The employer required certain workers at the plant to wear special uniform clothing, safety glasses, hard hats, and other PPE. Some workers also had to shower at the end of each shift.

When an Employee’s Travel is (or is Not) Compensable Under the FLSA

November 25, 2024 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Millions of Americans commute to and from work every day. For many others, getting to work is more complex, involving extended travel and multi-day (or weeks-long) stays away from home. While the Fair Labor Standards Act does not include daily commuting to and from home among the hours for which employers must compensate employees, the rules are different when overnight stays are involved. These employment arrangements may create situations where travel time must be compensated. If you have questions about travel time and the FLSA, talk to a knowledgeable Atlanta wage-and-hour lawyer to get the accurate answers you need.

Recently, a federal appeals court in the Midwestern United States delved into this issue of travel time and the FLSA.

The employer in the lawsuit was an Indiana-based equipment installation company. Working for the company involved driving to client sites far from home. Employees would remain at their sites from a few days to several weeks. Other than per diems and mileage reimbursements, the employer did not compensate its employees for their travel time.

The Consequences of Employees Working Off the Clock

December 8, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Workers can encounter many forms of misconduct that amount to violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. One of these issues relates to work performed off the clock. Whether you are an employee or an employer, if you have questions about unpaid hours and the FLSA, be sure to get in touch with an experienced Atlanta wage and hour lawyer to understand thoroughly your rights and responsibilities.

A major insurance company — whose CGI mascot is widely popular and seemingly ubiquitous on some television sports broadcasts — has found itself accused of multiple FLSA violations in the last few years, with the most recent action proceeding just to our south in the Middle District of Georgia federal court.

The employees were sales representatives who worked in the insurer’s call center in Macon. They alleged that the employer improperly forced them to perform essential job-related tasks before or after hours or during breaks, including booting up and shutting down their computers, responding to emails during meal periods, and staying late if their computer terminals malfunctioned during the day.

When the Time Spent Putting on and Taking off Specialized Attire or Protective Gear Is — and Isn’t — Compensable

August 25, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

An internet meme about lawyers mines humor from the frequency with which attorneys answer questions with “It depends.” Truthfully, “it depends” very often is the right answer, as many legal disputes that appear similar may yield vastly differing results depending on any number of (or sometimes just a few) key factual distinctions. A reply of “it depends” reflects the many wrinkles and nuances within areas of the law, and that includes wage-and-hour law. That’s why, if you have questions about whether something is or is not compensable time under the Fair Labor Standards Act, it is wise to seek out knowledgeable answers from an experienced Atlanta wage-and-hour lawyer.

As a case in point, we can compare and contrast two cases regarding the compensability of time spent donning and removal of safety gear.

In the more recent unpaid hours dispute, the workers were a group of rig hands who worked for an oil company in Pennsylvania. As part of its set of safety rules, the employer required its rig hands to put on “flame-retardant coveralls, steel-toed boots, hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, and earplugs.”

That Time You Spend Logging On (and Off) Your Work Computer May Be Compensable Under Federal Law

October 24, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Today, more and more workers do their jobs via a computer. As most computer-based workers know, getting into (and out of) the programs and/or applications necessary to do your job can be time-consuming. What you may not know, however, is that the time spent waiting on a computer could be time that’s compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Whether you’re an employee or an employer, a knowledgeable Atlanta wage and hour lawyer can help you assess your situation for compliance with the law.

While not from here in Georgia, a recent FLSA case regarding computer-based workers shows how employees can be owed pay for these log-in and log-out times. The case pitted a group of Las Vegas-based customer service call center agents against their employer.

The employer required the call center agents first to log into the employer’s timekeeping program before logging into any other work-related programs. Allegedly, due to a series of variables, this process of reaching the timekeeping program could take as much as 20 minutes, with the average time ranging somewhere between seven and 12 minutes.