In a decision on July 13, 2022, Maryland’s highest court held that the federal Portal-to-Portal Act has not been adopted or incorporated into Maryland wage laws or regulations. As a result, “what constitutes ‘work’ under Maryland law is not limited to what is compensable work under the [federal] PPA and FLSA” and Maryland employers may be required to pay their employees additional wages for time spent under a broader state definition of work that is not otherwise compensable at the federal level.
Portal-to-Portal Act
An amendment to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1947, the Portal-to-Portal Act (“PPA”) clarifies and defines an employer’s obligation to pay employees for activities performed before and after an employee's principal activities. Specifically, the PPA provides that an employer is not required to pay employees for pre- and post-shift activities that 1) are preliminary or postliminary to the principal activity or activities the employee is employed to perform, including walking, riding, or traveling to and from work; 2) take place before or after an employee's performance of all their principal activities in the workday; and 3) are not compensable, during the portion of the day when they occur, under any contract, custom, or practice.
Notably, the PPA does not define “work” – that is left to individual states – but it does limit the scope of compensable working time by generally excluding activities engaged in before an employee begins, or after...
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