Donning and Doffing in California: Should Workers Be Paid?

Donning and doffing in California is a sticky issue for labor law.

Getting into work gear (donning) and getting out of work gear (doffing) can add 30 to 60 minutes to a work day for some employees, and employees wish to be fairly compensated for this work-related time.

Lawsuits over donning and doffing in California have been filed by employees who feel their work gear dressing and undressing duties are required for them to appropriately carry out their jobs, so they believe they should be paid fairly for their time.

In some cases, this would amount to some employees being eligible to collect wages for overtime if the donning and doffing in California meets certain requirements.

A recent lawsuit was settled in Pennsylvania over donning and doffing duties, with employees winning the battle.

Employees of DuPont said in the Pennsylvania donning and doffing lawsuit that they were not being properly compensated for the time they spent putting on and taking off their job-related safety gear and updating incoming shift workers about the current status of their work.

The DuPont employee stated that their donning and doffing requirements as well as status updates to incoming shift workers could add up 60 minutes to their shifts.

DuPont countered that because were paid for both rest and meal breaks, additional pay that is not required under the law, specifically the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), that this compensation offsets the additional time employees spent on donning and doffing and status updates.

The workers argued back that the shift relief time providing status updates should have counted as overtime, not just regular pay.

Initially, DuPont was granted summary judgment, and the court found that the break time compensation given to employees offset the compensation that employees felt they should have earned for shift relief.

However, the employees appealed the District Court’s decision.

The Pennsylvania Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that under the FLSA, employers could not use break time paid to offset the overtime pay, reversing the decision of the District Court.

The lawsuit was remanded back to the District Court level to allow for additional proceedings.

The laws surrounding donning and doffing in California are hotly debated because the law is not always clear on what type of time is considered compensable.

Under FLSA, compensation is allowed for any activity deemed integral and indispensable to the employee when performing his or her job.

By that definition, employees feel that in order to carry out their job duties appropriately, the time they spend donning and doffing in California can actually be considered compensable time.

Employees especially feel that time spent donning and doffing in California when required at the worksite (if safety gear is not allowed to be taken home, for example) should be considered compensable time.

However, if an employee’s donning and doffing in California is not related to specific job duties, then time spent dressing and undressing may not be compensable.

The key issue lies in determining what is “integral and indispensable” when it comes to job-related duties and how compensable time is determined.

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