Abstract
No realm of employment litigation has been more active in recent years than class action lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Although the FLSA was originally enacted to help those who toiled in factories and on farms obtain a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, it continues to haunt unwary employers nearly seventy years later. This Note attempts to resolve those problems through the proposition of a single, uniform, and employer-friendly standard for donning and doffing claims arising under the FLSA. Specifically, this Note argues that courts should construe the “integral and indispensable” test narrowly to protect employers from compensation claims for relatively effortless activities while also exposing them to litigation for work that is essential to completion of the principal activity, as contemplated by early labor standard advocates. This ensures that legitimate claims for uncompensated work time are fully covered by the FLSA and that frivolous suits fall by the wayside.
Recommended Citation
Jacob A. Bruner,
Toiling in Factory and on Farm: An Employer-Friendly Approach to the Compensability of Donning and Doffing Activities Under the "FLSA",
65 Clev. St. L. Rev.
427
(2017)
available at https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol65/iss3/9