This past week, Asurion Inc. settled a class action brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act in which employees alleged that the company improperly failed to pay them for time spent turning on and shutting down their computers each day. According to the complaint, Asurion allegedly maintained a policy and practice of requiring employees to arrive at their work stations before their scheduled start times and perform “critical tasks.” The alleged tasks, for the most part, consisted of turning on their computers and logging into the company’s network. Plaintiffs allege that Asurion did not compensate them for this time. The case is entitled Benson et al. v. Asurion LLC et al. and was filed in the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
There has been significant litigation over the past several years regarding the payment of wages for “preparatory” work duties. Most of these lawsuits arose in connection with the putting on and taking off of protective gear prior to the start of an employee’s shift. The courts, including the United States Supreme Court, have consistently found such time to be compensable.
With that being said, employers would face a logistical nightmare if they were required to pay employees for the 2 to 3 minutes spent each day turning on their computers and logging into the network. Luckily, the regulations provide for a de minimis exception. This exception provides that “ insubstantial or insignificant periods of time outside scheduled working hours may be disregarded in recording time.” However, the de minimis exception is only applicable where the work involved is for such a short duration that it cannot be precisely recorded for payroll purposes.
The courts have refused to issue a standard amount of time that would automatically qualify as de minimis. Rather, the United States Supreme Court and several circuit courts of appeal have determined that periods of time ranging from 7 to 10 minutes is considered de minimis. The federal regulations, however, provide a more conservative view of de minimis work – – less than 5 minutes each day.