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Time Spent Donning, Doffing Before And After Work Is Compensable

RICHMOND, Va. - The time spent by employees of a poultry processing plant "donning and doffing" safety gear at the beginning and end of the work day was held to be compensable; however, time spent engaging in the same activities before and after meal breaks is not, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled June 7 (Luisa Perez, et al. v. Mountaire Farms, Incorporated, et al., Nos. 09-1917 and 09-1966 (4th Cir. 2011)).

Luisa Perez, an employee of Mountaire Farms Inc. and Mountaire Farms of Delaware Inc., filed suit on behalf of herself and similarly situated employees seeking to recover wages and liquidated damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for time spent donning and doffing protective gear during the workday at defendant's poultry processing plants. The District Court had held that the time spent donning and doffing protective gear is compensable as "work" under the FLSA. The defendant appealed from this decision.

The Appellate Decision

Agreeing in substantial part with the District Court, the Fourth Circuit ruled that time spent donning and doffing protective gear at the beginning and end of the workday is compensable.

With respect to the donning and doffing of protective gear at meal breaks, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the District Court that the employees' acts were helping to limit the exposure of defendant's products to bacteria. "If we were writing on a clean slate, we would hold that based on the district court's factual findings, these activities are not part of the 'bona fide meal period' but are compensable as 'work' under the continuous workday rule," the appellate court stated. However, based on the decision in Sepulveda v. Allen Family Foods, Inc. (591 F.3d 209 (4th Cir. 2009)), "we are required to hold that the mid-shift donning and doffing of protective gear at the employees' meal break is not compensable."

The Fourth Circuit did uphold the District Court's finding that defendant's violations of the FLSA were not "willful." Thus, a two-year statute of limitations is applicable to the employees' claims for back pay. The appellate judges also upheld the decision declining to award liquidated damages to the employees.

(Abstract of Article from LexisNexis® Mealey's™ Litigation Report Employment Law, Vol. 7, Issue #11, June 2011).