Wall Street Journal (12/09/14) Brent Kendall

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that Amazon warehouse workers do not have to be compensated for time spent undergoing security checks after their shifts. The warehouse workers had accused Integrity Staffing Solutions of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay them for the security screenings, which were intended to prevent employee theft.

The court determined that the security screenings are noncompensable postliminary activities that are not the principal activities the employees were hired to perform, nor are they “integral and indispensable” to the employees’ duties. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that “Integrity Staffing could have eliminated the screenings altogether without impairing the employees’ ability to complete their work.”