(April 7, 2019)
A federal judge has ruled that security screening procedures do not count as compensable work time based on the Fair Labor Standards Act, which consequently nullifies state claims brought forth by Kentucky-based Amazon workers.
This judgment by U.S District Court Judge David J. Hale affects a case brought forth by workers in an Amazon warehouse located in Kentucky, alleging that employees at Amazon warehouses should be paid for time they spend passing through security checks in a wage and hour class action lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge David J. Hale likened his decision in the judgment to a high court ruling in December 2014 wage and hour class action lawsuit known as the Integrity Staffing v. Busk case where the court determined that time spent in security procedures was not considered work time that would be compensable under the FSLA.
Amazon had previously argued that the 1974 Kentucky Wage and Hour Act does not provide a definition of “work,” federal state law such as the high court ruling in the Integrity Staffing case, must be relied upon to fill in any gaps in state law.
“The plaintiffs do not have a viable legal claim under Kentucky law,” Judge Hale declared. “In [Integrity Staffing], the Supreme Court held that the [1947] Portal-to-Portal Act excludes post-shift security checks, and Kentucky courts would use [Integrity Staffing] to fill the state’s statutory void. Thus, the court will grant the defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings.”
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