Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL has issued guidance to its staff – that might be relied upon by courts – that any break less than 20 minutes while working from home is compensable time, regardless of the reason for the break.
Especially because this post is being released on a Friday, chances are that you are reading it while working from home. Before doing so, you might have fired up your home computer in the wee hours of the morning, and then grabbed your coffee from the kitchen. You logged in, checked for urgent emails, and then took a few minutes for breakfast. You got in some work, and then ensured your child was up and getting ready for school. You went back to work again, but then had to take the dog out for a walk around the block. After that, you resumed working, then took a full 30-minute lunch break, worked again for a few hours, and then met your child at the school bus stop. You got back to work, only to be interrupted a few times by that same child asking for help with some homework assignments. Upon resuming work for an hour or so, you remembered to move your laundry from the washer to the dryer, and then you finished your day's work.
As a reader of this blog, you probably are exempt from the FLSA's overtime requirement and you do not track your time worked. But what about this work pattern for your non-exempt teleworking colleagues? To what extent does an employer have to pay that non-exempt employee for all those short breaks that are endemic to working from...
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