Manufacturer Must Pay Record $22 Million for Wage and Hour Violations

Labor, Employment and Benefits attorney William deMeza was interviewed for a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) article about a recent wage and hour dispute that resulted in the largest recorded jury verdict under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In the case, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) successfully argued that a company paid employees only for scheduled shifts instead of the true clock-in and clock-out times that included time spent putting on protective clothing and showering. Reflecting on the case, Mr. deMeza recommended that employers keep accurate time records and pay for actual work hours, rather than scheduled shifts. He also noted that "meaningful" time spent putting on safety equipment or even completing small tasks integral to a job — such as sharpening knives at a meat cutting facility — could be compensable.

"If the safety equipment is required for performance of the job, and there is meaningful time spent putting it on and taking it off, employees should be required to clock in before putting it on and clock out after taking it off," he said. "Meaningful time is hard to define, but one or two minutes per day likely would not be found compensable."

READ: Manufacturer Must Pay Record $22 Million for Wage and Hour Violations (Subscription required)