Following an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, there is a growing number of overtime lawsuits due to uncompensated time for "donning and doffing," or the time spent each day getting dressed in work-related clothing and removing it. While what constituted "changing clothes" had been unclear for some time under FLSA, court rulings often upheld that dressing activities did not take place during work time, and employers did not need to pay for them.
In a recent example, a group of policeman filed charges against the city seeking compensation for tasks that included putting on uniforms, but their case was overruled by the Supreme Court in January 2012.
In February of 2013, however, the Supreme Court revised the section of FLSA that formerly excluded changing clothes as paid employee time.
On October 3, almost 8,000 plaintiffs won $5 million in unpaid wages in a lawsuit against a large food supplier. The suit, which was filed in January 2008, claimed the plaintiffs were only compensated for hours worked on the production line, which excluded the excess time taken to put on required protective gear.
In addition to maintaining records of employee time, employers should create policies to ensure that workers are paid for time on-site that includes donning and doffing and mandatory security line checks if applicable.
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