The court held that deductions for use of employer-provided vans did not violate the FLSA or Florida law because the vans were optional and primarily benefited the employees.
Seyfarth Synopsis: In one of its final rulings of 2025, the Eleventh Circuit in Villarino v. Pacesetter Personnel Services, Inc. affirmed summary judgment in favor of a staffing agency, rejecting minimum wage and compensation claims tied to optional van transportation and pre- and post-shift activities. The court held that deductions for use of employer-provided vans did not violate the FLSA or Florida law because the vans were optional and primarily benefited the employees. The court also applied a clear, textual reading of the Portal-to-Portal Act, finding that time spent commuting to a project site, waiting on an optional employer-provided van, and collecting tools were not compensable. The decision offers welcome clarity for employers, particularly those operating in the Southeast.
In 2020, an individual named Shane Villarino filed a hybrid FLSA collective and Florida Minimum Wage Act (FMWA) class action against his former employer—a staffing agency that assigns temporary workers to client sites across the Southeast. Roughly 300 individuals joined the case, challenging two core practices: (i) wage deductions for using optional, employer-provided transportation, and (ii) exclusion of certain time—such as travel to work sites and tool collection—from compensable hours.
The plaintiffs, all temporary...
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