Supreme Court’s Sandifer Decision Is Not Just About Changing Clothes

In Sandifer et al. v. United States Steel Corp., a unanimous Supreme Court clarified the meaning of "changing clothes" found in Section 203(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA" or "Act"), holding that "changing clothes" includes putting on (donning) and taking off (doffing) protective gear. Section 203(o) of the FLSA allows employers and unions to bargain away compensability for "time spent in changing clothes...at the beginning or end of each workday."[1]

In Sandifer, the steelworker plaintiffs argued that the "clothes" referred to in the statute did not include the protective gear they were required to wear from hazards on the job and sought backpay for that time. Holding that "[T]he object of §203(o) is to permit collective bargaining over the compensability of clothes changing time .....", the Court validated the provisions in the collective bargaining agreement between United States Steel and its union where the parties "through mutually beneficial negotiations" agreed that the donning and doffing of various protective gear was not compensable.

Sandifer, however, is equally significant for all employers because the decision has much to say, however cryptic, regarding the de minimis standard in the context of compensable time, and also includes enigmatic comments, potentially favorable to employers, in connection with the heretofore narrow construction applied to exemptions from overtime under the Act.

Background

The District Court held that the donning and doffing of protective gear constituted "changing clothes" under Section 203(o) of the Act. It also opined that even if certain items such as a hardhat, glasses, and earplugs were not "clothes", the time spent putting them on and off was "de minimis" and not compensable. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision.

Ruling

In its analysis, the Supreme Court focused on the definition of "changing clothes" to decide whether section 203(o) applies to donning and doffing protective gear. The Court consulted the dictionary definition of "clothes" at the time section 203(o) was enacted in 1949, stating, that the meaning of "clothes" includes "items that are both designed and used to cover the body and are commonly regarded as articles of dress." The Court found the employees' protective gear, including flame-retardant pants and jackets and steel-enforced work boots, fell within this definition. At the same time, Justice Scalia pointedly wrote that "our definition does...