Although the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that time spent changing clothes at the beginning and end of a shift be included in hours worked there is a provision that says this time is not compensable if it has been excluded “by custom or practice under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement.” In this case, it had never been included in the bargaining agreement, so the Court of Appeals ruled that the time was not included in hours worked.
This decision points out just how complex the FLSA is for had there been no union contract the time would have been compensable.
the court decision should have been to pay the workers. The working class people of the U.S. have always struggled for fair pay, safe working decisions,and to stop child labor. Also to have a decent work week of the average of 40 hours.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time Rockefellers men in the 30's would shoot and kill men, women and children in the streets that were fighting for safe and fair working conditions.
I also learned in college in Socialogy that there would always be a power strugle between huge corporations and the common working man.
unfortunately the huge corporations usually win even today as in the case of the decision the judge made. Shame on him!!!!
I was fired from a position for a manufacturer of furniture due to end stage kidney disease where I had to go on dialysis and get a kidney transplant. THE MANUFACTURER FIRED ME 13 DAYS BEFORE MY KIDNEY TRANSPLANT-even though was a good worker-is what the human resource manager told me. He WAS NOT HUMAN.
Happy to say I am working now and have been since I graduated from college in 1993 perfoming environmental/justice work I LOVE!