Opinion ID: 678828
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wait Time

Text: 40 The workers urge that they are entitled to the minimum wage for their morning and afternoon wait time. The standard under the Portal-to-Portal Act for wait time is the same as for travel time. Wait time is compensable when it is part of a principal activity of the employee, but not if it is a preliminary or postliminary activity. See text of 29 U.S.C. Sec. 254, supra. 41 The legislative history of the Portal-to-Portal Act and several cases have addressed the issue of compensability of wait time as a principal activity. Normal [c]hecking in or out and waiting in line to do so, changing clothes [for the employee's convenience], washing up or showering, [and] waiting in line to receive paychecks is not a principal activity. S.Rep. No. 48, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. p. 47 (1947) (emphasis added). 42 This Court considers two wait time factors. First, waiting time is compensable if the wait predominately benefits the employer. Mireles v. Frio Foods, Inc., 899 F.2d 1407, 1411 (5th Cir.1990). Waiting benefits the employer when it is requested or required by the employer. Wirtz v. Sullivan, 326 F.2d 946, 948 (5th Cir.1964). Where an employee is required by his employer to report to work at a specified time, and the 'employee is there at that hour ready and willing to work but' is unable to ... for some reason beyond his control, the employee is engaged to wait and is entitled to be paid for the time spent waiting. Mireles, 899 F.2d at 1414; Halferty v. Pulse Drug Co., 864 F.2d 1185, 1189 (5th Cir.1989). See Sedano v. Mercado, 124 Lab.Cas. (CCH) p 35,756, 1992 WL 454007 (D.N.M.1992) (Time spent ... waiting in the fields for the fields to dry ..., for trailers to arrive, or for their employer to prepare to begin the work day is predominately for the benefit of the employer.); Fields v. Luther, 108 Lab.Cas. (CCH) p 35,072, at 45,666, 1988 WL 59963 (D.Md.1988) (Time waiting in fields for dew to dry compensable because workers are on duty ); DOL Opinion Letter 1507, 1973-1978 [Transfer Binder] Lab.L.Rep. (CCH) p 31,172, at 42,876 (Feb. 9, 1978). Second, [w]hether idle time is compensable depends on whether employees are able to effectively use the time for their own purposes, not on the 'reasonableness' [in duration] of the wait. Mireles, 899 F.2d at 1413; Halferty, 864 F.2d at 1189. 43 Also, employees requesting schedule changes for their own convenience cannot demand payment for wait time resulting from this accommodation. Blum v. Great Lakes Carbon Corp., 418 F.2d 283, 287-88 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1040, 90 S.Ct. 1361, 25 L.Ed.2d 651 (1969) (citing Jackson v. Air Reduction Co., 402 F.2d 521, 523 (6th Cir.1968)) (waiting in employee's interest noncompensable). After work wait time may be compensable. See D.O.L. Opinion Letter WH-533 (Dec. 16, 1991) (wait purely incidental to postliminary transportation home is not compensable, wait for instructions or while other workers finish for group transportation home is compensable). 44 Gasper urges that none of the wait time is compensable because no work of consequence was performed during the wait period. He argues that the workday began when the workers began picking chiles and ended when the chile picking ended. 45 The workers argue that the morning wait time is compensable as being more than an incident of transportation, and that they were on duty during this period. See Fields, 108 Lab.Cas. (CCH) p 35,072, at 45,666. The workers argue that the afternoon time waiting to get paid was compensable because the wait served Gasper, not the workers. They contend that Gasper devised his own daily pay system as opposed to a weekly or get-paid-the-next-day system, that Gasper did not have to wait until the end of the day to cash a check from the farmer, and that he did not have to pay his employees daily or pay them in cash. They assert that Gasper's failure to keep required business records delayed payment, and that the system Gasper chose to use was impractical, created burdensome delays, and served Gasper. The workers could not use the waiting time for their own purposes because the fields were isolated and they lacked transportation. See D.O.L. Opinion Letter WH-533 (Dec. 16, 1991). Because of Gasper's asserted inefficiencies, the employees argue that the afternoon waiting was performed at the employer's behest and should be compensable. See Dunlop, 527 F.2d at 401; Sedano, 124 Lab.Cas. (CCH) p 35,756. 46 The district court did not articulate why the wait time should be compensable as a principal activity because it viewed all time as compensable after travel began. We conclude that if the wait time in the morning was the result of the workers' request for a schedule change--to have the bus pick them up earlier to avoid the dangers of nights in El Paso--then the morning wait time is not compensable as it benefits the workers, not Gasper. 7 On the other hand, if the workers were on duty in the morning so as to get an early start for their employer's benefit (e.g., to assure that work would start promptly at sunrise) or because of Gasper's scheduling, the morning wait time is a compensable principal activity. See Fields, 108 Lab.Cas. (CCH) p 35,072, at 45,666. That no work was done during the wait is not necessarily controlling here. Because the district court did not express findings about the purpose of the morning wait, we cannot decide whether the time is compensable. We therefore remand for additional findings concerning the purpose of the morning wait. See Halferty v. Pulse Drug Co., 821 F.2d 261, 269-271 (5th Cir.1987) (remand for findings concerning purpose of wait time). 47 We also remand for findings concerning the purpose of the afternoon wait period, whether the wait served Gasper as a result of his burdensome pay system, and whether the workers could effectively use this time for their own purposes. See Sedano, 124 Lab.Cas. (CCH) p 35,756 (Time spent waiting for Defendant Jara to complete his payroll records in the afternoon is predominantly for the benefit of the employer. Because of the isolation of the chile fields and the need to wait for their turn to give ... Jara payroll information and their tokens, workers cannot use this time effectively for their own benefit.). 8 For example, if the afternoon wait resulted from Gasper's decision to have his employees wait while he cashed the farmer's check, then the wait benefits Gasper and is compensable. Gasper owes wages to his employees whether or not the farmer pays Gasper. If, on the other hand, Gasper's pay system is reasonably efficient, but the wait results from the number of employees involved, then the wait is not compensable. In light of the conflicting testimony in the record, this issue should be resolved by the district court on remand. See D.O.L. Opinion Letter WH-533 (Dec. 16, 1991). The Sedano case provides an example of the type of fact findings needed to support an FLSA claim respecting wait time. 48 Finally, Gasper argues that no compensation is owed because there was an implied agreement of nonpayment. Implied agreements of noncompensability may be found where employees continue to work after they are on notice of an employer policy of noncompensation. Rousseau v. Teledyne Movibile Offshore, Inc., 805 F.2d 1245, 1248 (5th Cir.1986), reh'g denied, 812 F.2d 971, and cert. denied, 484 U.S. 827, 108 S.Ct. 95, 98 L.Ed.2d 56 (1987). We reject Gasper's contention. The workers here were hired and rehired each day and no continuing agreement was shown. The district court's failure to find such an agreement was not clearly erroneous.