In Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, the U.S. Supreme Court held the employees of an Amazon fulfillment center were not entitled to be paid under the FLSA for time spent waiting in line for a post-shift security screening.
And yet, last week, in parallel litigation under Nevada state law, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals just held that time spent undergoing mandatory security checks is compensable under Nevada law, reversing a contrary lower court ruling.
I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of the 6th Circuit’s rationale. If you want to know the intricacies of the court’s interpretation of Nevada wage and hour law, take a gander at the opinion.
The point is that when considering whether you are paying your employees correctly, the main consideration is always the FLSA. But it’s not the only consideration. States have wage and hour laws, too. And, as Amazon discovered, their interpretation very well might differ than the FLSA. Which could prove to be a costly oversight.
This post originally appeared on the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog, and was written by Jon Hyman, Partner, Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis. Jon can be reached at via email at jhyman@meyersroman.com, via telephone at 216-831-0042, on LinkedIn, and on Twitter.
