Sandifer v. U.S. Steel Corp., No. 10-1821 (7th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs, hourly steel workers, argued that the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 201 by failing to compensate for time spent putting on and removing work clothes in a locker room and walking to and from the locker room. The union contract does not require such compensation. Plaintiffs argued that the Act requires compensation and overrides contractual provisions. The district court ruled that the Act does not require compensation for changing time, but may require that walking time be compensated, and refused to dismiss. The Seventh Circuit held that the suit has no merit and should be dismissed. The court included a picture of the clothing and stated: "From a worker's standpoint any time spent on the factory grounds is time 'at work' in the sense of time away from home or some other place where he might prefer to be … But it is not time during which he is making steel, and so it is not time for which the company will willingly pay. If the workers have a legal right to be paid for that time, the company will be less willing to pay them a high wage for the time during which they are making steel."
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