A recent Oregon Supreme Court decision found that Oregon wage and hour laws mirror the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and do not provide employees with a greater right to compensation for time spent performing pre- or post-shift activities. As a result, the Court concluded that time spent on an employer’s premises waiting for and undergoing mandatory security screenings (before or after a shift) is compensable if the screenings are an “integral and indispensable” part of the employee’s principal activities or compensable as a matter of contract, custom, or practice.
Facts of the Case
Lindsey Buero worked for Amazon in a warehouse located in Troutdale, Oregon. She brought a class action wage and hour lawsuit under Oregon law against Amazon to recover wages for time she and other employees spent going through Amazon’s mandatory security screening procedures.
To prevent theft, Amazon kept merchandise in a secure area within its warehouse. When employees left the secured area at the end of their shift, they were required to clock out before proceeding with a security screening. There were nine screening lanes in the warehouse. Employees without metal or bags could use one of five express lanes that allowed the employee to walk through a metal detector. However, any employee who brought a bag into the secured area was required to use one of two lanes and had to walk through a metal detector and put their bag on a conveyor belt for x-ray screening. If the employee set...
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