Supreme Court Docket Report - February 19, 2013

Keywords: Fair Labor Standards Act, safety gear, Sandifer

Fair Labor Standards Act—"Changing Clothes"

Section 203(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act exempts employers from having to compensate employees for off-the-clock "time spent in changing clothes . . . at the beginning or end of each workday" if a collective-bargaining agreement so provides. 29 U.S.C. § 203(o). Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp., No. 12-417, to decide whether donning and doffing safety gear constitutes "changing clothes" within the meaning of section 203(o).

In Sandifer, the plaintiff had brought a collective action under the FLSA on behalf of steel-mill employees, alleging that their employer had improperly failed to compensate them for time spent before and after each shift donning and doffing safety equipment, including fire-retardant jacket and pants, steel-toed boots, goggles, ear plugs, hard hats, a flame-retardant head covering