Opinion ID: 3065034
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: One of Rutti’s off-the-clock activities may be

Text: compensable [9] Rutti also seeks compensation for activities that he engaged in for Lojack before he travels to his first job site and after he returns home from his last job site of the day. The ECFA, however, in addition to exempting commute time from 8 “ ‘Ridesharing’ means two or more persons traveling by any mode, including, but not limited to, carpooling, vanpooling, buspooling, taxi pooling, jitney, and public transit.” Cal. Veh. Code § 522. If the provision of a vehicle by the employer for commuting does not constitute part of a day’s work when the employee has to share the vehicle with other employees, it follows that it should not constitute part of a day’s work when the employee’s use of the employer-provided vehicle is freed of such a limitation. RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. 11467 compensation, also provides that an employer need not compensate an employee for “activities which are preliminary to or postliminary to said principal activity or activities.” 29 U.S.C. § 254(a)(2). Thus, to be entitled to compensation for his off-the-clock activities, Rutti must show that they are related to his “principal activities” for Lojack. In addition, our case law indicates that activity that might otherwise be compensable is not if the time involved is de minimis. Accordingly, we next discuss the applicable case law, first addressing the definitions of “principal activities” and “de minimis“ for off-the-clock activities. We then apply those definitions to Rutti’s preliminary and postliminary activities.

[10] We first considered the definition of “principal activities” in Lindow v. United States, 738 F.2d 1057 (9th Cir. 1984). The plaintiffs in that case sought overtime compensation for up to 15 minutes of work before the start of their shifts. Id. at 1059. We held that pre-shift activities are compensable if they are an “integral and indispensable part of the principal activities for which covered workmen are employed,” id. at 1060 (quoting Steiner v. Mitchell, 350 U.S. 247, 256 (1956)), and that the term “principal activities” is to be liberally construed “to include any work of consequence performed for an employer no matter when the work is performed.” Id. at 1061 (citing 29 C.F.R. § 790.8(a)). The Fifth Circuit adopted a similar broad definition of principal activities in Dunlop v. City Elec., Inc., 527 F.2d 394 (5th Cir. 1976). In Dunlop, electricians arrived at the work site approximately 15 minutes before the work day began at 8:00 a.m. to perform certain duties. Id. at 397. The issue was whether these activities were integral to their principal activities. The Fifth Circuit adopted a broad definition, holding that: 11468 RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. The test, therefore, to determine which activities are “principal” and which are “an integral and indispensable part” of such activities, is not whether the activities in question are uniquely related to the predominant activity of the business, but whether they are performed as part of the regular work of the employees in the ordinary course of business. It is thus irrelevant whether fueling and unloading trucks is “directly related” to the business of electrical wiring; what is important is that such work is necessary to the business and is performed by the employees, primarily for the benefit of the employer, in the ordinary course of that business. We find that the pre- 8:00 a.m. activities performed by the electricians and their helpers were within the broad range of “principal activities” performed at their employer’s behest and for the benefit of the business; as such they were compensable activities for which the employees would ordinarily have been paid had such work been performed during the normal workday. Id. at 400-401 (footnote omitted).9 In Owens v. Local No. 169, Ass’n of W. Pulp & Paper Workers, 971 F.2d 347 (9th Cir. 1992), we approached “principal activities” from a different perspective. In Owens, the plaintiffs were mechanics who sought overtime compensation for the time that they were on call to receive emergency calls to fix equipment at their employer’s pulp mill. Id. at 348-49. We observed that the Supreme Court had held that time spent waiting for work is compensable if the waiting time is spent “primarily for the benefit of the employer and his business.” Id. at 350 (quoting Armour & Co. v. Wantock, 323 U.S. 126, 9 The Fifth Circuit, however, remanded the case “for further determination whether all these activities combined still resulted in so slight an expenditure of the employees’ time as to be de minimis and therefore not compensable.” Id. at 401. RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. 11469 132 (1944)). We noted that “facts may show that the employee was ‘engaged to wait,’ which is compensable, or they may show that the employee ‘waited to be engaged,’ which is not compensable.” Id. at 350 (quoting Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134, 137 (1944). We nonetheless rejected the plaintiffs’ claims, holding that the proper test “is not the importance of on-call work to the employer, rather the test is focused on the employee and whether he is so restricted during on-call hours as to be effectively engaged to wait.” Id. at 354. See also Brigham v. Eugene Water & Elec. Bd., 357 F.3d 931, 938 (9th Cir. 2004) (applying the Owens factors and vacating a grant of summary judgment for the employer because the factors narrowly favored the employees). Thus, Lindow requires that we give “principal activities” a liberal construction “no matter when the work is performed,” 738 F.2d at 1061 (citing 29 C.F.R. § 790.8(a)). The Fifth Circuit’s opinion in Dunlop suggests that we pay particular attention to whether the activities “are performed as part of the regular work of the employees in the ordinary course of business.” 527 F.2d at 401. In addition, Owens counsels that we consider the extent to which the work impacts the employee’s freedom to engage in other activities. 971 F.2d at 354.
[11] Our opinion in Lindow also applied the de minimis rule to claims of overtime compensation. 738 F.2d at 1062. Taking our lead from the Supreme Court’s opinion in Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680, 692 (1946), we recognized that an employer’s obligation to pay for the employees’ efforts had to be moderated by a de minimis rule.10 We cited the Supreme Court’s statement that: 10 In Anderson, the Supreme Court first noted that “the time spent in walking to work on the employer’s premises, after the time clocks were punched, involved physical or mental exertion (whether burdensome or not) controlled or required by the employer and pursued necessarily and 11470 RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. When the matter in issue concerns only a few sec- onds or minutes of work beyond the scheduled work- ing hours, such trifles may be disregarded. Splitsecond absurdities are not justified by the actualities of working conditions or by the policy of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is only when an employee is required to give up a substantial measure of his time and effort that compensable working time is involved. Lindow, 738 F.2d at 1062 (quoting Anderson, 328 U.S. at 692). In Lindow, we concluded that even though some of the employees’ activities were principal activities, the district court properly determined that “the 7 to 8 minutes spent by employees reading the log book and exchanging information, even if not preliminary, was de minimis and therefore not compensable.” Id. at 1062. The panel carefully explained its reasoning. An important factor in determining whether a claim is de minimis is the amount of time spent on the additional work. The panel specifically stated that: “[t]here is no precise amount of time that may be denied compensation as de minimis. No rigid rule can be applied with mathematical certainty.” Id. at 1062. Nonetheless, the panel noted that most courts “have found daily periods of approximately 10 minutes de minimis even though otherwise compensable.” Id. The panel then qualified this statement, explaining: “[t]he de minimis rule is concerned primarily for the benefit of the employer and his business.” 328 U.S. at 691-92. It then commented that “compensable working time was limited to the minimum time necessarily spent in walking at an ordinary rate along the most direct route from time clock to work bench. Many employees took roundabout journeys and stopped off en route for purely personal reasons. It would be unfair and impractical to compensate them for doing that which they were not required to do.” Id. at 692. RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. 11471 with the practical administrative difficulty of recording small amounts of time for payroll purposes.” Id. Accordingly, employers “must compensate employees for even small amounts of daily time unless that time is so minuscule that it cannot, as an administrative matter, be recorded for payroll purposes.” Id. at 1062-63. Furthermore, courts may consider “the size of the aggregate claim,” and “have granted relief for claims that might have been minimal on a daily basis but, when aggregated, amounted to a substantial claim.” Id. at 1063. Also, courts apply “the de minimis rule in relation to the total sum or claim involved in the litigation.” Id. “Finally, in applying the de minimis rule, we will consider whether the claimants performed the work on a regular basis.” Id. The court summarized its position as follows: in determining whether otherwise compensable time is de minimis, we will consider (1) the practical administrative difficulty of recording the additional time; (2) the aggregate amount of compensable time; and (3) the regularity of the additional work. Id. at 1063. Thus, in determining whether an otherwise compensable activity is de minimis, we apply the three-prong test set forth in Lindow. In doing so, we recognize that the test reflects a balance between requiring an employer to pay for activities it requires of its employees and the need to avoid “split-second absurdities” that “are not justified by the actuality of the working conditions.” Lindow, 738 F.2d at 1062 (quoting Anderson, 328 U.S. at 692).11 11 In Anderson, the Supreme Court indicated that an employee was entitled to compensation for principal activities unless the employer met its burden of showing that the time consumed by the activity was truly de minimis. The master . . . denied recovery solely because the amount of time taken up by the activities and the proportion of it spent in 11472 RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. 2. Applying the applicable law to Rutti’s off-the clock activities Rutti’s off-the-clock activities may be divided between those that take place before he leaves home, i.e. his preliminary activities, and those that take place after he returns home,
a. Preliminary Activities [12] Rutti’s morning activities do not appear to be integral to his principal activities. Most of his activities — “receiving, mapping, and prioritizing jobs and routes for assignment” — are related to his commute. Under the FLSA, commuting is presumptively noncompensable, and is clearly distinct from Rutti’s principal activities for Lojack. Although there are some indications that Rutti also filled out some forms for his jobs at home, it is not clear that the paperwork could not be performed after Rutti reached the job site, or that Lojack required the forms to be filled out before Rutti reached the job site. [13] In any event, these preliminary activities, to the extent that they are both distinct from his commute (which is not compensable) and related to his principal activities, appear to be de minimis, and thus, not compensable. Even though Rutti allegedly filled out certain forms every morning, there is nothing to suggest that this took more than a minute or so. Thus, advance of the established starting time had not been proved by the employees with any degree of reliability or accuracy. But, as previously noted, the employees cannot be barred from their statutory rights on such a basis. Unless the employer can provide accurate estimates, it is the duty of the trier of facts to draw whatever reasonable inferences can be drawn from the employees’ evidence as to the amount of time spent in these activities in excess of the productive working time. 328 U.S. at 693. RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. 11473 viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Rutti, he has not offered any evidence of preliminary activities that are both integral to his principal activities for Lojack and take more than a de minimis amount of time. Accordingly, the district court properly granted Lojack summary judgment on Rutti’s claim for compensation for preliminary activities. b. Postliminary Activities [14] Lojack requires that Rutti, after he completes his last job for the day and goes “off-the-clock,” return home and send a PDT transmission to Lojack using a modem provided by Lojack. The transmissions have to be made every day as they provide Lojack with information concerning all the jobs its technicians perform during the day. The transmissions appear to be “part of the regular work of the employees in the ordinary course of business,” and are “necessary to the business and [are] performed by the employees, primarily for the benefit of the employer, in the ordinary course of that business.” Dunlop, 527 F.2d at 401. Accordingly, at least on summary judgment, the district court could not determine that this activity was not integral to the Rutti’s principal activities. [15] Lojack might still be entitled to summary judgment, if it could be determined that this postliminary activity was clearly de minimis. The evidence before the district court, however, does not compel such a conclusion. The fact that several technicians testified that they spent no more than five to ten minutes a night on PDT transmissions might appear to give rise to a presumption that an activity is de minimis, see Lindow, 738 F.2d at 1062, but such a conclusion is neither factually nor legally compelling. It is not factually compelling because, although it may take only five to ten minutes to initiate and send the PDT transmission, the record shows that the employee is required to come back and check to see that the transmission was successful, and if not, send it again. There is also evidence in the record 11474 RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. that there are frequent transmission failures. Accordingly, the record does not compel a finding that the daily transmission of the record of the day’s jobs takes less than ten minutes. Furthermore, we have not adopted a ten or fifteen minute de minimis rule. Although we noted in Lindow, that “most courts have found daily periods of approximately 10 minutes de minimis even though otherwise compensable,” we went on to hold that “[t]here is no precise amount of time that may be denied compensation as de minimis“ and that “[n]o rigid rule can be applied with mathematical certainty.” 738 F.2d at 1062. The panel went on to set forth a three-prong standard, which would have been unnecessary if the panel had intended to adopt a ten or fifteen minute rule.12 [16] The application of this three-prong test to the facts in this case do not compel a conclusion that the PDT transmissions are de minimis. The first prong, “the practical administrative difficulty of recording the additional time,” id. at 1063, is closely balanced in this case. Certainly, it is difficult to determine exactly how much time each technician spends daily on the PDT transmissions. It is also not clear what activities should be covered. Is the time when the technician comes back to check to see if the transmission was successful included? When a technician is waiting until ten minutes after the hour, is he “engaged to wait” or “waiting to be engaged?” See Owens, 971 F.2d at 350. Although it may be difficult to determine the actual time a technician takes to complete the PDT transmissions, it may be possible to reasonably determine or estimate the average time. For example, there is evidence in the record that Lojack had agreed to pay one technician an extra 15 minutes a day to cover the time spent 12 The panel noted that the “plaintiffs spent an average of 7 to 8 minutes a day reading the log book and exchanging information.” 738 F.2d at 1064. If the panel had intended to adopt a rigid rule, it could have simply concluded that because the activities took less than ten minutes they were per se de minimis. RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. 11475 on PDT transmissions. In sum, the inherent difficulty of recording the actual time spent on a particular PDT transmission does not necessarily bar a determination that the PDT transmissions are not de minimis. See Reich v. Monfort, Inc., 144 F.3d 1329, 1334 (10th Cir. 1998) (holding that the time it took meat packers to don and shed their employer-mandated clothing was not de minimis even though “the practical difficulty of supervising and recording the additional time weighs in favor of finding it noncompensable”). The other two prongs, “the aggregate amount of compensable time,” and “the regularity of the additional work,” Lindow, 738 F.2d at 1063, favor Rutti. Rutti asserts that the transmissions take about 15 minutes a day. This is over an hour a week. For many employees, this is a significant amount of time and money. Also, the transmissions must be made at the end of every work day, and appear to be a requirement of a technician’s employment. This suggests that the transmission “are performed as part of the regular work of the employees in the ordinary course of business,” Dunlop, 527 F.2d at 401, and accordingly, unless the amount of time approaches what the Supreme Court termed “split-second absurdities,” the technician should be compensated. See Anderson, 328 U.S. at 692. [17] Our review of the record suggests that the PDT transmissions are an integral part of Rutti’s principal activities and that there are material issues of fact as to whether the PDT transmissions are de minimis. Accordingly, the grant of summary judgment in favor of Lojack on Rutti’s claim for the transmissions must be vacated. See Balint v. Carson City, Nev., 180 F.3d 1047, 1054 (9th Cir. 1999) (holding that in reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we do “not weigh the evidence or determine the truth of the matter, but only determines whether there is a genuine issue for trial”). This does not mean that on remand, Lojack may not be able to make a persuasive factual showing for summary judgment 11476 RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. under the standard clarified in this opinion. We, however, decline to make such a decision in the first instance. C. Rutti’s off-the-clock activities do not extend his workday under the continuous workday doctrine. Finally, Rutti argues that under the continuous workday doctrine,13 because his work begins and ends at home, he is entitled to compensation for his travel time, citing Dooley v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 307 F. Supp. 2d 234 (D. Mass. 2004). In Dooley, automobile damage appraisers sought compensation for the time they spent traveling from their offices in their homes to locations where they inspected damaged cars. Id. at 239. The district court first determined that the work the appraisers undertook at home constituted principal activities.14 Id. at 242. The court then determined that compensation was not prohibited by the Portal-to-Portal Act,15 and 13 See IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez, 546 U.S. 21, 29 (2005), noting that “the Department of Labor has adopted the continuous workday rule, which means that the ‘workday’ is generally defined as ‘the period between the commencement and completion on the same workday of an employee’s principal activity or activities.’ [29 C.F.R.] § 790.6(b).” 14 The court explained: “Appraisers are required, as part of their job duties, to check their email and voice mail, to prepare their computers for use, and to return telephone calls. These tasks are ‘part of the regular work of the employees.’ ” Dooley, 307 F. Supp. 2d. at 242 (citing Dunlop, 527 F.2d at 401). 15 The court reasoned: The Portal-to-Portal Act applies only to those activities that occur “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.” 29 U.S.C. § 254(a). I concluded, above, that the plaintiffs’ alleged activities at home constitute principal activities. Because the plaintiffs’ drive to the first appraisal site does not occur “prior to the time [the] employee commences [his or her] principal activity or activities,” the drive is outside the ambit of the Portalto-Portal Act. The default rule of the FLSA — that the plaintiffs must be paid — applies. See 29 C.F.R. § 790.6(a). Dooley, 307 F. Supp. 2d at 243. RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. 11477 concluded that those appraisers who could show that they performed work at home before or after their daily appraisals were entitled to compensation. Id. at 249. [18] Even were we to adopt the continuous workday doctrine set forth in Dooley, Rutti would not be entitled to compensation for his travel time to and from the job sites. We have already determined that Rutti’s preliminary activities that are not related to his commute are either not principal activities or are de minimis. Accordingly, his situation is not analogous to the situation in Dooley. See 307 F. Supp. 2d at 245 (“The first and last trip of the day for these appraisers is not a commute in the ordinary sense of the word — it is a trip between their office, where their administrative work is performed, and an off-site location.”). [19] Our determination that Rutti’s postliminary activity, the PDT transmission, is integrally related to Rutti’s principal activities might support the extension of his work day through his travel back to his residence, were it not for 29 C.F.R. § 785.16. This regulation provides that “[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.”16 Lojack allows a technician to make the transmissions at any time between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Thus, from the moment a technician completes his last installation of the day, he “is 16 Subsection (a) of 29 C.F.R. § 785.16 states: Periods 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. He is not completely relieved from duty and cannot use the time effectively for his own purposes unless he is definitely told in advance that he may leave the job and that he will not have to commence work until a definitely specified hour has arrived. Whether the time is long enough to enable him to use the time effectively for his own purposes depends upon all of the facts and circumstances of the case. 11478 RUTTI v. LOJACK CORP. completely relieved from duty.” His only restriction is that sometime during the night he must complete the PDT transmission. Because he has hours, not minutes, in which to complete this task, the intervening time is “long enough to enable him to use the time effectively for his own purpose.” See Mireles v. Frio Foods, Inc., 899 F.2d 1407, 1413 (5th Cir. 1990) (holding that waiting time “greater than forty-five minutes are not compensable because Plaintiffs were not required to remain on Defendant’s premises during such periods and could use such periods effectively for their own purposes”). Rutti has not shown that the district court erred in determining that neither his preliminary nor postliminary activities extended his workday under the continuous workday doctrine.