Takeaway: A company staffing skilled trades workers at jobsites could not evade liability for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act by claiming that its employees’ long-distance work only started once they arrived at each jobsite.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s summary judgment decision that a staffing company was liable for overtime for employees’ long-distance trips during normal work hours.
Professional Labor Group LLC (PLG), an Indiana-based staffing firm, recruited and employed individuals skilled in various trade classifications, including electricians and millwrights. PLG matched its employees with temporary work at client jobsites. Employees traveled to the remote sites, where they stayed and worked for days or weeks before returning home or moving on to the next job. PLG did not compensate its employees for the time they spent traveling to and from assignments during their normal work hours.
PLG served its clients—mostly construction and industrial contractors—by supplementing their existing workforces with skilled labor. When a client needed assistance on a project, it placed a request with PLG for employees qualified in a particular trade. PLG then identified appropriate candidates and assigned them to the jobsite.
The assignments were not local. Rather, a job usually required PLG employees to drive to a client’s remote site, where they remained for the duration of the project. Projects lasted anywhere from a few days to...
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