Class Action

FLSA Class Action Defense Cases-Spoerle v. Kraft Foods: Wisconsin Federal Court Denies Defense Summary Judgment Motion In FLSA Class Action Seeking Compensation For Donning And Doffing Protective Equipment

By Michael J. Hassen

Defense Motion for Summary Judgment Arguing that Class Action Claims Seeking Compensation under Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Time Spent Donning and Doffing Safety Gear Required by Employer Denied for Failure to Establish as a Matter of Law that Class Action Claims Fell Within Exception to FLSA Compensation Requirement Wisconsin Federal Court Holds

Plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against their employer, Kraft Foods, alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state law for time spent in donning and doffing safety and sanitation equipment as part of their jobs at a meat processing plant. Spoerle v. Kraft Foods Global, Inc., ___ F.Supp.2d ___, 2007 WL 4564094, *1 (W.D. December 31, 2007). Defense attorneys moved for summary judgment arguing that the class action claims fell within the Portal-to-Portal Act exception, that the allegations in the class action complaint did not constitute “changing clothes” within the meaning of the FLSA, and that in any event the class action claims fell within the FLSA’s “de minimis” exception. Id. (While such dispositive motions are generally inappropriate prior to the court’s ruling on a class action certification motion, plaintiffs stipulated that they would not seek class action treatment until the court ruled on the summary judgment motion, id.) Except as explained in the Note, below, the district court denied the defense motion because it could not find as a matter of law “that the donning and doffing of the equipment at issue in this case is excluded from the protections of the FLSA,” id.

The district court stated at page 1, “This case presents a straightforward question: does the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219, require defendant Kraft Foods Global, Inc., to pay its employees for time they spend putting on and taking off items of safety and sanitation equipment that defendant's policies and federal law require the employees to wear?” Kraft operates a meat processing plant in Wisconsin and requires employees to use time clocks “typically [located] right outside the ‘production area’” to track their time. Spoerle, at *1. Federal law, as well as company policy, requires employees wear safety and sanitation equipment in the production area, which “includes a hard hat or bump cap, steel-toed shoes or sanitation boots, ear plugs, hairnet and beard net, safety glasses, a freezer coat (if necessary), gloves, plastic gloves, paper frock or plastic apron, sleeves, slickers (for employees that work in wet areas) or a cotton frock (employees may choose to wear cotton pants and a shirt instead, which the parties refer to as ‘career clothes’).” Id. Failure to wear the required equipment may lead to discipline, id. The gravamen of the class action is that some of these items - all of which are owned by the employer and stored at the plant - must be put on before clocking in, id., at *2. The court noted that “The current collective bargaining agreement between plaintiffs and defendant does not guarantee compensation for the time spent donning and doffing personal protective equipment,” id., and noted further that Kraft did not dispute that such conduct was “work,” id., at *3; rather, the defense argued that the conduct falls within an exception.

Full post as published by Class Action Defense Blog on February 11, 2008 (boomark / email).