By Jay Greene, The Seattle Times
SEATTLE — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a case in which Amazon.com warehouse workers are seeking compensation for the time they must wait to go through security screening at the end of their shifts.
Former employees of Integrity Staffing Solutions, which provides temporary workers for Amazon, claim they spent nearly 30 minutes some days to pass through security checks. Amazon requires everyone entering and leaving its warehouses to pass through the security screens to prevent theft.
The workers filed the suit, Integrity Staffing Solutions Inc. v. Jesse Busk and Laurie Castro, in 2010. They argued that they federal Fair Labor Standards Act required Integrity to pay them for activities that are “integral and indispensable” to an employee’s job. The Supreme Court is reviewing a federal appeals court decision that allowed that lawsuit to proceed.
Neither Amazon nor the attorney for Integrity responded immediately for comment.
The case could have implications beyond Amazon. In November, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, among others, filed an amicus brief urging the court to review the lower court’s decision.
Photo: thisisbossi via Flickr
