Warehouse workers are not entitled to pay for time spent in security screenings, Supreme Court rules
Image from Shutterstock.
Warehouse workers are not entitled to compensation for time spent in anti-theft security screenings at the end of their shifts at Amazon.com, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
According to the unanimous opinion (PDF) by Justice Clarence Thomas, the workers were not entitled to compensation under the Federal Labor Standards Act. He cited an amendment to the law that said employers have no liability for failing to pay for “activities which are preliminary to or postliminary to” principal work activities.
The workers, employed by Integrity Staffing Solutions at Amazon warehouses in Nevada, had contended they were entitled to compensation for the screenings–which could take as long as a half-hour to complete–because they were an essential part of their job. Thomas disagreed, saying the screening were not integral and indispensable to their duties as warehouse workers.
“The screenings were not an intrinsic element of retrieving products from warehouse shelves or packaging them for shipment,” Thomas wrote. “And Integrity Staffing could have eliminated the screenings altogether without impairing the employees’ ability to complete their work.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a concurring opinion explaining her reading of the FSLA standards that was joined by Justice Elena Kagan.
Hat tip to SCOTUSblog.
