It is well-established that short rest breaks, so-called coffee breaks, are compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In a variation on this age-old theme, in a unique set of circumstances, the Third Circuit has affirmed that employers must pay for breaks of up to twenty (20) minutes. In this case, the Company did not pay sales workers who logged off of their computers for more than a minute and a half. The case is entitled U.S. Department of Labor v. American Future Systems Inc. et al., and issued from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Court held that the FLSA mandates that employers compensate employees for all rest breaks of twenty minutes or less. The Court rejected the Company’s argument that courts should assess the compensability of break times depending on whether the particular break was intended to benefit the employer or the employee. The Company argued that if the break benefited the employee, then no compensation would be due.

The Court disagreed, concluding that this would be “contrary to the regulatory scheme and case law,” and would be “burdensome and unworkable.” The Court stated “employers would have to analyze each break every employee takes to determine whether it primarily benefited the employee or employer. This would not only be ‘an undesirable regulatory intrusion in the workplace with the potential to seriously disrupt many employer-employee relationships, but it would also be difficult, if not impossible, to implement in all workplace settings.”

The workers were paid an hourly wage and were given bonuses based on sales per hour when they were logged onto their computers. Before 2009, the Company’s policy was to give workers two 15-minute breaks each day. It then changed the policy to cut out paid breaks but employees were able to log off of their computers at any time, but the Company only paid them for the time that they were logged on. The Company denominated this as “flex time.” The Company only paid workers if they were logged off for less than 90 seconds, including time spent on bathroom or coffee breaks.

The Third Circuit held that this violated the spirit of the FLSA. Employees had to choose between going to the bathroom or getting paid “unless the employee can sprint from computer to bathroom, relieve him or herself while there, and then sprint back to his or her computer in less than 90 seconds.”

The Takeaway

This is an employee friendly decision but it makes sense if one is strictly analyzing the FLSA, both plain language and intent. The statute protects employees from having their wages withheld when they take short breaks to visit the bathroom, stretch their legs, get a cup of coffee, or simply clear their head after a difficult stretch of work. The Court is really looking towards the general well-being of the employees.

Probably a good thing…