Opinion ID: 588914
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Court erred in instructing the jury as to the

Text: 49 appropriate standard for determining the 50 compensability of meal periods. 51 The trial court's instructions on the law charged the jury with applying a completely relieved from duty standard in deciding the Plaintiffs' entitlement to compensation for meal periods. Instruction no. 10 directed: 52 Unless plaintiffs' meal periods are bona fide meal periods under the Fair Labor Standards Act, plaintiffs' meal periods are compensable work time. Bona fide meal periods are not work time. To qualify as a bona fide meal period, the employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals. The employee is not relieved if he is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating. 53 (R., Appendix to Brief of Appellants, exh. I). This language closely tracks the Code of Federal Regulations treatment of meal periods, under 29 C.F.R. § 785.19. 14 Nonetheless, as the introductory statement to Part 785 makes evident, the regulations contained therein are addressed to the standard workweek and are not specifically tailored to the employment practices permitted under § 207(k). See 29 C.F.R. § 785.1. In guiding the functioning of the Act as a whole, Part 785 delineates the principles involved in determining what constitutes working time under the minimum wage requirements of § 206 and the weekly overtime provisions of § 207, generally. Id. Although Part 785 is generally applicable, Part 553, which pertains to employees of state and local governments and specifically addresses the § 207(k) tour of duty regime, applies more precisely to the facts of this case. See 29 C.F.R. §§ 553.220-227. 54 Section 553.223(b) governs the compensability of meal periods, in the subsection (k) context, for law enforcement personnel working shifts of fewer than 24 hours. 15 Like § 785.19, this section requires compensation for meal periods during which an employee is not completely relieved from duty. Also, 553.223(b), by reference to § 785.19, mandates that uncompensated meal periods must be scheduled, occur at a regular time, and normally be thirty minutes or more. Lee v. Coahoma County, 937 F.2d 220, 225 (5th Cir.1991) (citing § 785.19 in discussing § 553.223). Not appearing in § 553.223(b), however, is § 785.19's statement: The employee is not relieved if he is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating. Furthermore, § 553.223(b) goes on to illustrate circumstances involving law enforcement personnel that would run afoul, if not compensated, of the completely relieved from duty standard, citing the examples of personnel required to remain on call in barracks or similar quarters or assigned to extended surveillance duties, such as stakeouts. We find these differences instructive in determining the reach of the completely relieved from duty standard pursuant to § 553.223(b). Hence, a police officer must primarily be engaged in work-related duties during meal periods to warrant compensation therefor. That a police officer is on-call and has some limited responsibilities during meal periods does not perforce mean the officer is working. See Lee, 937 F.2d at 225; Leahy v. City of Chicago, 785 F.Supp. 724, 728-30 (N.D.Ill.1992). Instead, consistent with the language of § 553.223(b) and with traditional principles underlying FLSA, 16 a law enforcement employee is completely relieved from duty during a meal period, for purposes of § 553.223(b), when the employee's time is not spent predominantly for the benefit of the employer. Cf. Renfro v. City of Emporia, 948 F.2d 1529, 1538 (10th Cir.1991), cert. dismissed, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1310, 117 L.Ed.2d 510 (1992) (restrictions placed on on-call firefighters' personal pursuits created benefit to employer making time compensable under § 207(k)); Boehm v. Kansas City Power & Light Co., 868 F.2d 1182, 1185 (10th Cir.1989) (applying predominant benefit test to on-call power company employees, under § 207(a)); Norton v. Worthen Van Service, Inc., 839 F.2d 653, 654-55 (10th Cir.1988) (considering extent to which on-call van drivers were able to pursue personal activity, in appeal of back wages claim under FLSA). 17 If during meal periods a police officer's time and attention are primarily occupied by a private pursuit, presumably the procurement and consumption of food, then the officer is completely relieved from duty and is not entitled to compensation under FLSA. Conversely, a police officer is entitled to compensation for meal periods if the officer's time or attention is taken up principally by official responsibilities that prevent the officer from comfortably and adequately passing the mealtime. 18 55 As literally extracted from § 785.19, the trial court's instruction no. 10 deprived the jury of an ample understanding of the issues and standards of the case. The instruction countenanced the misapprehension that the performance of any official duty, no matter how insignificant, during meal periods rendered the time compensable. We reject that result. We reverse and remand for a new trial on this issue.