DOL wins largest FLSA verdict ever! $22 million for unpaid showers.

The Department of Labor has just won the largest Fair Labor Standards Act verdict in its history. A jury awarded a group of workers $22 million for the time they spend showering after their work shifts.

The FLSA requires employers to pay hourly employees for all the time they work, including for tasks performed before their shifts begin and after they end when those tasks are "integral and indispensable" to those employees' principal activities.

Generally, minor pre- and post-work activities don't count--things like waiting in a short line to clock in or out. But tasks that take longer and are closely related to the job must be paid. Employers that fail to pay for those activities often find themselves in the crosshairs of Department of Labor lawyers who are trained to take those cases to court.

The cost for employers that lose that kind of litigation: damages amounting to double the unpaid time.

Recent case: DOL lawyers sued East Penn Manufacturing when an investigation revealed that about 7,500 workers had not been paid for the time they spent putting on protective clothing and gear before beginning their shifts and showering after clocking out.

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