In a move that highlights the difference between state and federal law, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that employers must pay workers for the time they spend going through security checks.
The 5-2 majority explained in a case involving an Amazon warehouse that the time devoted to this activity, even if insubstantial, is compensable because it qualifies as “hours worked” under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA).
Amazon reportedly employs more than 25,000 full- and part-time workers in Pennsylvania. The case was referred to the state supreme court by a federal appeals court to obtain an opinion on state law and will now return to the that court for further action.
“Hours worked includes time during which an employee is required by the employer to be on the premises of the employer,” according to decision by the majority of state justices.
In addition, the high court rejected the application of a “de minimis” exception to the PMWA, a situation in which some minimal amount of time would be spent by the employee on such a security measure and thus would not need to be applied to compensable time.
Under federal law no such standard exists because in 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the time spent by workers during a security check conducted by their employer is not compensable under the national Fair Labor Standards Act.
Pennsylvania employers must modify handbooks and other workplace policies, practices or procedures that require employees to remain on the premises when completing similar security searches, say attorneys Christian R. White and Carlos Torrejon of the Baker & Hostetler law firm.
Employers also should also review any other “off the clock” work employees may be performing, they advise. “The key factor identified by the court in making this time compensable is the location of the activity, i.e., the worksite. As such, employers should proceed accordingly.”