George Howard Discusses New California Supreme Court Ruling Requiring Employees to be Paid for Security Checks
George Howard, a Quarles & Brady Labor & Employment partner in the firm’s San Diego office, was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle and Law360 on a recent California Supreme Court ruling.
The court ruled that time spent by workers undergoing an employer's security check, including inspections of the worker's personal vehicle, is compensable as hours worked, but time spent driving between the security gate and the parking lot is not. The ruling particularly affects workers in construction, mining and other industries that search people entering and leaving the premises to make sure they are employees and are not taking equipment with them.
Howard encouraged employers to review the specific workplace to reduce as much time as possible required for employees to exit the workplace and the amount of control imposed on the exiting employees.
An excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle article:
Attorney George Howard, who has represented employers in other cases for more than 40 years, said the ruling, while unfavorable for employers, offered some guidance on reducing their liability.
Companies “should review the specific workplace to reduce so far as possible the time required for employees to exit the workplace and the amount of ‘control’ imposed on the exiting employees,” Howard told the Chronicle. And to avoid another half hour of pay, he said, “do not control employees’ activities during their off-duty meal periods.”
An excerpt from the Law 360 article:
George Howard of Quarles & Brady LLP, a veteran labor attorney who advises employers and is not involved in the instant litigation, told Law360 on Monday that the California Supreme Court's opinion has given employment lawyers some guidance that will "hopefully make it easier for employers to comply" with California labor law.
While a lot of workplaces and labor sites require employees to go through some kind of security, Howard said, the justices made it clear that compensable time for such checks is about more than having to go through a gate. The attorney said he's heard concern from some employers in high-rise buildings, for example, that require workers to swipe an ID card on the way in, but he said he doesn't believe the court meant swiping a card is "employer control."
"I think the court recognized that this opinion could apply to a lot of places, and they've dropped some little nuggets" about the employer control necessary to reach compensable time, Howard said.