A recent decision from the United State Supreme Court will lengthen the compensable workday for many employers. The decision in IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez involves the Court’s analysis of what constitutes compensable work time within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) in workplaces in which employees are required to wear protective clothing. The Court held that the workday starts when an employee puts on required protective gear, and therefore the time spent walking to a work station from the changing area is time for which employees must be paid. Likewise, held the Court, time spent walking from a work station to a changing area to remove protective gear is also compensable time.

The underlying cases in Alvarez involved employees at meat and chicken processing plants who were required to dress in protective gear such as hardhats, hairnets, earplugs, aprons and boots. The Court had already held, in a 1956 decision, that donning and doffing specialized protective gear before or after the regular work shift are compensable activities because they are “integral and indispensable” to the principal activities that start the work day. The issue in Alvarez focused on whether time spent walking to the workstation after putting on the gear or walking back to the changing area in order to take off the gear is also compensable work time under the FLSA.

The federal Portal-to-Portal Act excludes certain activities from compensable time under the FLSA. For example, an employer will not be liable for time during which an employee walks onto the employer’s premises until the point at which he or she starts the principal work activity. Likewise, an employer is not liable for time spent on activities that are preliminary to the principal activity or subsequent to the time that the employee ceases such principal activity. Thus, time spent commuting to or from an employee’s home is not compensable work time.

The Court reasoned that since applying and removing protective gear is the first principal activity of the work day in these food processing plants, time spent walking to the production floor after applying the gear, and from the floor before removing it, are covered by the FLSA’s “continuous workday rule.” That rule essentially means that all activities performed between the commencement and completion of the workday must be compensated.

The Court also addressed whether time spent by employees waiting in line to receive their safety gear at the beginning of the work day is compensable. The Court held that the time spent waiting to don the first piece of protective gear is a preliminary activity that is not integral and indispensable to a principal work activity, and is therefore excluded from the scope of the FLSA.

The Court’s decision in Alvarez means that employers need to audit their current payroll practices to ensure that employees are paid for all time that has been deemed compensable by this decision. For businesses in which employees are required to wear protective gear, time spent putting on and taking off the gear, as well as time spent walking to and from workstations from the changing area, must be included within the compensable workday. The sole exception to this rule may be the situation in which the time spent in these activities is so minor that it could be deemed “de minimis.” Likewise, if employees are required to engage in other pre- and post-shift activities, the Court’s holding may be applicable to such activities as well.