IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez; Tum v. Barber Foods, Inc.
Issues
Should Employees' walking to and waiting at distribution stations where required safety equipment is distributed to the employees be included as part of either the principal activities for which an employer is employed or integral and indispensable to such principal activities, and therefore compensable under the Portal-to-Portal Act?
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq. ("FLSA"), as amended by the Portal-to-Portal Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 251-262 ("Portal Act"), an employee must be compensated for the time their employer requires them to spend donning and doffing protective gear. In the combined oral argument for Tum v. Barber Foods, Inc. and IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez, the Supreme Court will consider an important related question—whether an employee is also entitled to compensation for time spent waiting at stations where required safety and health equipment is distributed, donned, and doffed, and traveling to and from these stations to work sites at the beginning and end of each workday.
Under the FLSA, employers must compensate employees for activities performed during the workday. However, the Portal Act, which amended the FLSA, removed employers' obligation to compensate employees for two categories of activities performed outside the workday. These activities include: "(1) walking, riding, or traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity, and (2) activities which are preliminary or postliminary to said principal activity or activities." Tum and Alvarez ("Employees") contend that walking and waiting at safety stations are inextricably linked to the donning and doffing process, and are principal activities that demark the beginning and end of the workday. The Employees also argue that these activities occur within the workday, and thus, the above Portal Act exceptions are inapplicable. Public policy considerations, such as employee safety, financial welfare, and corporate profitability will figure prominently in the Supreme Court's resolution of these conflicting appellate court rulings. The outcome will also profoundly impact workers' salaries, manufacturing costs, and corporate outsourcing policy.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez :
Whether walking that occurs between compensable clothes-changing time and the time employees arrive at or depart from their actual work stations constitutes non-compensable "walking . . . to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity" within the meaning of Section 4(a) of the Portal-to-Portal Act.
Tum v. Barber Foods, Inc. :
1. Is the time employees must spend walking to and from stations where required safety equipment is distributed compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended by the Portal-to-Portal Act, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), 254(a).
2. Do employees have a right to compensation for time they must spend waiting at required safety equipment distribution stations?
Tum v. Barber Foods, Inc. , 360 F.3d 274 (1st Cir. 2004)
Tum, representing current and former employees at Barber Foods' poultry processing plant in Portland, Maine, sued to recover unpaid wages for time spent waiting at and walking to stations where required safety equipment is distributed.
Additional Resources
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