Today the Supreme Court decided (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-417_9okb.pdf) that putting on personal protective equipment like “a flame-retardant jacket, pair of pants, and hood; a hardhat; a “snood”; “wristlets”; work gloves; leggings; “metatarsal” boots; safety glasses; earplugs; and a respirator” was changing clothes. Why is that important and worthy of attention by the highest court in the land you ask? Because usually under the Fair Labor Standards Act employers have to pay employees for the time they spend putting on such protective equipment, but the Act also allows unions and employers to bargain about whether time “changing clothes” will be paid by the employer. So today the Supreme Court said that putting on such protective equipment was changing clothes and since the union bargained away time spent changing clothes, the employees were not entitled to back pay for this time.
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