Opinion ID: 158015
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Shuttle Times

Text: We must consider the compensability of two different shuttle times. We address each in turn. 1. To and from relief points at either end of split shift period Although we have held that the split shift periods in general are not compensable hours worked, we do not thereby necessarily exclude the possibility that the shuttle time drivers spend either leaving their relief point at the beginning of their split shift period, or going to their relief point at the end of that period, could be compensable. This is so because, while we have held that resolution of this latter issue is intertwined with our resolution of the entire split shift period, we cannot overlook the possibility that some distinction between the two periods of time may make one compensable and the other not. The district court held the shuttle time at issue here was compensable, finding that “[t]he riding of shuttles is integral and indispensable to this system of dispatching and relieving drivers at 11 (...continued) drive split shifts a “split shift differential,” an additional 25¢ to 35¢ per hour, depending on the length of the total run. The drivers argue that the City’s payment of this split shift differential constitutes an acknowledgment that the split shift period is compensable. We disagree. The fact that the drivers and the City agreed in their collective bargaining agreement to pay more for the less desirable split runs does not control whether the split shift period is compensable hours worked under the FLSA. -18- different times and remote locations throughout the city.” Partial Tr. of Proceedings at 44, Appellant’s App. at 33. We agree. 12 The City’s basic argument about this shuttle time is that “[t]here is no meaningful distinction for FLSA purposes between split periods and travel time to and from split periods.” Appellant’s Br. at 26. In either case, the City claims, drivers are off duty, free to engage in personal pursuits. We disagree. As indicated above, “[p]eriods during which an employee is completely relieved from duty and which are long enough to enable him to use the time effectively for his own purposes are not hours worked.” 29 C.F.R. § 785.16. (emphasis added). We believe there is a meaningful distinction between time spent shuttling to or from a relief point, where a working shift just ended or is about to begin, and the remainder of the drivers’ split shift periods, during which they have an extended block of time in which to pursue, as most testified they do, purely personal pursuits. While shuttling to or from a relief point, the drivers are not free to do whatever they wish–they must spend that time traveling to or from a location dictated by the City, and situated to serve the City’s need to provide an efficient and useful bus transportation system. They travel to and from such 12 The district court held that only time spent on City shuttles to or from relief points at either end of a split shift period is compensable. The court stated that if a driver “is able to obtain transportation to or from a relief point by some way other than a shuttle between his shift, I conclude it is not compensable time.” Partial Tr. of Proceedings at 45, Appellant’s App. at 34. The drivers do not appear to challenge this. -19- points as a necessary part of their principal activity of driving particular bus routes for the City. While it is true that the entire split shift structure also serves the City’s need to provide an efficient and useful bus transportation system, the drivers’ ability to use the remainder of the split shift period, aside from the shuttle time to and from relief points, for a wide range of personal pursuits makes a critical difference. The exemption from hours worked provided by the Portal-to-Portal Act makes no difference to our conclusion. That Act exempts from compensable hours time spent “traveling to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity or activities . . . either prior to the time on any particular workday at which such employee commences, or subsequent to the time on any particular workday at which he ceases, such principal activity or activities,” as well as activities which are “preliminary” or “postliminary” to the employee’s principal activity. 29 U.S.C. § 254(a); see also 29 C.F.R. § 785.34. The drivers’ “principal activity” is the driving of their shifts. This is so whether they drive a split shift or a straight shift within a single workday. “Time spent by an employee in travel as part of his principal activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday, must be counted as hours worked.” 29 C.F.R. § 785.38. In our view, the shuttle time to and from relief points at either end of the split shift period is travel time which is “part of [the drivers’] principal activity.” -20- Indeed, we would, in essence, be holding that each shift is a principal activity in a separate workday, were we to hold that shuttle time to and from each shift is excluded as ordinary commuting time under the Portal-to-Portal Act. The regulations define “workday” under the Act as follows: “Workday” . . . means . . . the period between the commencement and completion on the same workday of an employee’s principal activity or activities. It includes all time within that period whether or not the employee engages in work throughout all of that period. 29 C.F.R. § 790.6. We agree with the district court that we should not turn a single 24-hour period into essentially two 24-hour periods, simply because the drivers drive two shifts separated by a non-compensable off-duty period. 13 The City argues that the split shift period is like a “bona fide meal period” which is not compensable under the FLSA provided the employee is “completely relieved from duty.” 29 C.F.R. § 785.19(a). It argues that, just as employees are not compensated if they choose to travel to a lunch destination, so too a driver should not be compensated when he travels to and from his split shift period. The City overlooks the fact that an employee can obviously choose to travel or not travel to eat lunch, but the drivers must get to and from diverse relief points if 13 The City conceded at oral argument that a driver whose runs were not separated by a non-compensable period of time would be entitled to compensation for time spent traveling from one bus run to the next. The fact that the City structures a driver’s whole day to include an off-duty period between such travels should not alter the characterization of the travel time, if the travel time in either case is a part of the driver’s principal activity, and is required because it benefits the City. -21- they are to perform their principal activity of driving the particular bus route assigned them. The mere fact that the split shift period is not compensable, just as a bona fide meal period is not, does not mean that all activity related to that period, including any associated travel, should be treated the same. We therefore hold that the district court, on the undisputed facts of this case, properly granted summary judgment to the drivers on their claim for compensation for time spent traveling on City shuttles to and from relief points at the beginning and end of their split shift periods. 14 14 We note that, when considering workers’ compensation claims for injuries incurred while traveling to or from a split shift period, a few courts have held that such injuries occurred during the course of the employee’s employment. See, e.g., Howard v. City of Detroit, 139 N.W. 2d 677, 679-80 (Mich. 1966) (holding that bus driver injured while traveling to commence his second shift was within the course of his employment); Duncan v. South Central Bell Tel. Co., 608 So. 2d 649, 651-52 (La. Ct. App. 1992) (holding that employee killed while leaving first shift was in the course of her employment). But see Cherewick v. Morris G. Laramie & Son, 295 N.W. 268, 269 (Mich. 1940) (holding that employee killed while traveling to second shift was not in the course of his employment). As one court has described the effect of working split shifts: [P]laintiff was effectively working a split-shift schedule, which exposed him to hazards of travel to and from the workplace greater than those encountered by an ordinary employee who reports for work and returns home only once each day. Miles v. Russell Mem. Hosp., 507 N.W. 2d 784, 786 (Mich. Ct. App. 1993). Similarly, the bus drivers in this case are exposed to twice the commuting as a driver who drives a straight shift. -22- 2. To and from first or last or only shift of day Finally, the drivers seek compensation for time spent shuttling to and from either their first or last bus run of the day or, as the case may be, their only bus run of the day. The district court denied relief on this claim, finding that it is excluded from hours worked under the Portal-to-Portal Act. We agree. This is classic commuting-to-work time, excluded from compensation by the Portal-to-Portal Act. The fact that the drivers use City operated shuttles is irrelevant. 15 Just as with any commute, the undisputed evidence in this case establishes that the drivers are obligated only to appear on time at the particular place from which their first bus runs begins, whether that is the City garage or some relief point. At the end of the day, following their last bus run, they may go home any way they choose, by any means they choose. The fact that some of them may choose to use a City shuttle to go to or from the City garage, as a part of their commute at the beginning or end of their workday, does not transform that time into hours worked under the FLSA and the Portal-to-Portal Act. See Baker v. GTE North Inc., 110 F.3d 28, 30-31 (7th Cir. 1997) (holding that an employee who drove his employer’s car to the main office at the end of the day, and then drove his own car home, could not be compensated for any of the travel time); Vega v. Gasper, 36 F.3d 417, 425 (5th Cir. 1994) (holding that farm 15 The Employee Commuting Flexibility Act of 1996, § 2101 of Pub. L. 104-188, 110 Stat. 1755, 1928, which amended the Portal-to-Portal Act, makes that clear. -23- workers who chose to ride employer’s bus for 1½ to 2 hours to and from fields, but were not obligated to ride such buses, were engaged in non-compensable “home-to-work-and-back commute”). Moreover, the fact that a driver may end his workday at a relief point, where his own vehicle is unavailable, does not transform what would otherwise be a simple work-to-home commute into compensable hours worked. “Ordinary home to work travel is not compensable under the FLSA, regardless of whether or not the employee works at a fixed location.” Imada v. City of Hercules, 138 F.3d 1294, 1296 (9th Cir. 1998). See 29 C.F.R. § 785.35 (“An employee who travels from home before his regular workday and returns to his home at the end of the workday is engaged in ordinary home to work travel which is a normal incident of employment. This is true whether he works at a fixed location or at different job sites.”). While it may be more awkward or inconvenient to arrange for transportation to and from work where the employees, like the drivers here, may begin or end their work day at diverse locations, such awkwardness or inconvenience does not change an otherwise non-compensable commute into compensable work time. -24-