Court Opinion

ID: 9472363
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:58:07.734517+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:53.754549
License: Public Domain

CANBY, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the judgment on the ground that the trier of fact could reasonably have found the amounts of time spent by the employees in pre-shift reading and discussing of the logs and in lockage duties was de minimis. I therefore join Parts IB and II of Judge Choy’s opinion. I would not reach the issue of opening and closing of gates discussed in Part III of Judge Choy’s opinion, because appellant has not pursued the issue on this appeal.
While I agree as well with much of the discussion in Part I of Judge Choy’s opinion, I cannot agree that the Westrick letter conclusively establishes that the Corps did not “suffer” or “permit” the work to be done outside of the normal shift. Mere issuance of written instructions against overtime is not sufficient to relieve the employer of liability if he nevertheless knows that overtime is being worked and allows it. Wirtz v. Bledsoe, 365 F.2d 277, 278 (10th Cir.1966). That rule is not made dependent upon the work’s being incapable of performance during regular shift hours. See id. Nor is it determinative that the *1065Corps did not pressure employees to engage in pre-shift work; the point is that the Corps, if it knows pre-shift work is being done, must apply pressure to end it if it does not want the work to be compensable. There is ample evidence here that the Corps knew of the work and “suffered” or “permitted” it to be done before the start of the shift.