Best Buy has requested that a judge approve a $900,000 settlement in a New York State wage-hour class action in which the plaintiffs sought payment for time worked “off-the-clock.” That working time comprised the minutes spent going through security clearings at the end of the work day, assumedly to ensure that employees did not steal anything during their shifts.
The parties decided to settle the action, although they maintained their respective positions. The employer, however, has agreed to modify its operating procedures to allow all employees to remain on the clock until their manager allows them to leave the store.
Employer compulsion or the lack thereof is the key. Where the employer compels an activity related to the job, the activity is working time and compensable. The other element is how integrally related to the main job is the side activity.
These preliminary and postliminary issues are a real danger to the employer because, often, the employer may not even appreciate that this “little” activity or routine or inconvenience to employees is actually “work,” which can then lead to a single employee filing an action (as was done here) and everybody else coming on board. Be proactive! Analyze every non-exempt job and ascertain if there are preliminary or postliminary activities involved or related to these jobs, then apply the above-referenced analysis and make the call on whether it is or is not working time.
Turner v. Best Buy Company, Inc.
