A recent case in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals serves as an
important reminder that employers must pay workers for short
breaks. The opinion by Judge McKee in Secretary United
States Department of Labor v. American Future Systems, Inc.
d/b/a Progressive Business Publications was issued October
13, 2017 and can be found here.
Progressive Business Publications pays its sales representatives
an hourly wage. It previously had a policy giving employees
two fifteen-minute paid breaks per day. In 2009, it eliminated the
paid breaks, instead allowing employees to log off their computers
at any time, calling it "flexible time." However, if the
employees were logged off for more than 90 seconds, they were not
paid for the break. The unpaid breaks included time to use the
bathroom, get coffee, or to take a moment in between sales calls to
prepare for the next call. As a result, the employees were being
paid just over five hours per day.
