In Sandifer v. U.S. Steel Corp., the U.S. Supreme Court held that the FLSA does not require unionized employers to compensate employees for time spent putting on and taking off certain protective clothing if they have a collective bargaining agreement that excludes this time as compensable work time.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s regulations
The question of whether to pay employees for putting on protective gear has plagued employers for years. While the federal courts are divided over this issue, at least five Appellate Courts – the Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eleventh and now the Tenth Circuits – have held that personal protective equipment is included within the meaning of