What is working time? There are many variations on this theme, some far grayer than others. When does waiting time become working time? Is the employee engaged to be waiting or waiting to be engaged? If the former, then it is working time. A class action involving more than 1,100 workers is now testing these hypotheses. These workers have been granted certification in a class action alleging they were not paid for time spent undergoing security checks before they left the store. The case is entitled Heredia et al. v. Eddie Bauer LLC and was filed in federal court in the Northern District of California.
U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman certified several causes of action, including a class for off-the-clock “exit inspections.” The Judge stated that there were two existing questions common to all class members–did the company mandate that security checks be performed off the clock and, if it did so, was the time spent by employees off the clock, waiting to go through security checks. compensable hours worked.
The theory of the suit (filed by a sales associate at a retail store) was that employees were not properly paid for time spent engaged in screening and time they waited for the screening to be conducted. The employee alleged that she was compelled to undergo bag checks and security inspections whenever she left the facility and these inspections were conducted pursuant to Company policy. Indeed, the worker alleged that supervisors directed her to clock out and wait at the front of the store before a manager would conduct a bag check.
The Company defended by asserting that the employees were only subject to screening if they were carrying a bag that might be utilized to steal store merchandise. The Company further stated that these bag checks were to be conducted on the clock, pursuant to Company policy. It also argued that the named plaintiff could not demonstrate that all class members incurred a common injury because there was no liability for some employees, such as those who did not carry a bag. The Judge observed that Eddie Bauer’s written policies did not mention whether employees had to clock out before undergoing a screening, or whether managers had to advise employees that these screenings were to be conducted on the clock.
Significantly, the judge rejected the contention that plaintiffs could not establish commonality because the Company policy allowed inspections to be performed on the clock. The Court observed that “this argument itself is an answer to the common question: whether Eddie Bauer’s policy and practice was to mandate that security checks be performed off-the-clock. Of course, the parties disagree on the answer to this question, but that does not preclude a finding of commonality under Rule 23(a)(2).”
The Takeaway
This is a troubling case. The element of compulsion, i.e. allegedly making employees punch out and wait for the inspection, makes this case very dangerous for the employer. It is made more interesting because the Supreme Court ruled a few years ago that similar waiting time was not compensable because that waiting time was not directly related to the job.
Maybe that is the next argument the Company should make…
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