Lane Powell Shareholder Mike Reilly was quoted in a December 31 Human Resource Executive Online article titled “Security Screenings Settled?” The article discussed a recent Supreme Court decision that ruled security screening is not a compensable process. The plaintiffs in the case sued Integrity Staffing Solutions, a temp agency, in hopes of being paid for the time they spent removing their personal effects and walking through metal detectors designed to prevent theft. The plaintiffs claimed the process added up to 25 minutes to the end of their shift.
“The key holding here is that standing in line isn’t compensable if it’s not a productive part of your job,” says Michael Reilly, Director of the Labor and Employment Practice Group at Lane Powell law firm in Seattle. “The distinction here is this is just a qualification to work, it isn’t the work itself.”
He compares the scenario to people getting dressed for work. While employers require employees to wear clothes at work, they don’t pay them for the activity of getting dressed.