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Supreme Court to hear staffing firm security case next week

October 01, 2014

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Oct. 8 in a case where Amazon.com Inc. warehouse workers claim a staffing firm owes them pay for time spent standing in a security line.

A federal court in Nevada ruled in favor of defendant Integrity Staffing Solutions in July 2011, according to court records. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013 reversed the lower court’s ruling related to time spent in line. The Appeals Court ruled plaintiffs stated a valid claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act because standing in the line was an integral part of the employees’ work.

Named plaintiffs in this case, Jesse Busk and Laurie Castro, were Integrity Staffing Solutions employees who worked at Amazon’s facilities in Las Vegas and Fernley, Nev., filling orders, according to court records. They argued violations of federal and state labor laws because employees were required to spend up to 25 minutes at the end of their workday going through the security line. Employees had to remove wallets, keys and belts then pass through metal detectors.

Integrity argues the “Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 makes pre-shift and post-shift travel time and other “activities which are preliminary to or postliminary to” an employee’s principal production activities not eligible for pay, and the security screenings would fall under the Portal-to-Portal Act’s exemption, according to court records.

An Amazon.com filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cites similar cases had been separately filed in federal court, but they have been stayed pending the outcome of the Busk case.