Plaintiffs are current or former correctional officers in the City prison system. Under the FLSA, employers may employ an employee for no longer than forty hours per week unless such employee receives overtime compensation for the additional time at a rate of at least one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay. There is an exception to this general rule, however, for employees who are employed under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement. It is uncontroverted that there is no express provision regarding compensation for uniform change time in the collective bargaining agreement governing the parties' employment relationship. From the competent evidence of record, as uncontroverted or otherwise viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, the pertinent facts are as follow.
Defendants require correctional officers to wear official uniforms while performing their jobs.
The officers are prohibited from wearing their uniforms while off-duty or while off of prison property and thus must change into and out of their uniforms on prison premises. Plaintiffs spent or spend two and one-half hours per week on average changing into and out of their uniforms. This time is not included in their scheduled work shifts. Every collective bargaining agreement between the parties over a period of thirty years, including the current one, has been silent as to compensation for uniform change time. In his then capacity as President of the Union, William Turner proposed compensation for change time to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner in labor management meetings.