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U.S. NEWS Friday 27 July 2018

$ 10

Court: Starbucks, others must pay workers for off clock work

By SUDHIN THANAWALA minimal. But the California and what is not trivial, but in
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Supreme Court said a few this case, the time that the
Starbucks and other em- extra minutes of work each employee was not com-
ployers in California must day could "add up." pensated was significant,'"
pay workers for minutes Troester was seeking pay- said Veena Dubal, a labor
they routinely spend off the ment for 12 hours and 50 law expert at the University
clock on tasks such as lock- minutes of work over a of California, Hastings Col-
ing up or setting the store 17-month period. At $8 lege of the Law.
alarm, the state Supreme an hour, that amounts to Associate Justice Leondra
Court ruled Thursday. $102.67, the California Su- Kruger wrote separately
The unanimous ruling was a preme Court said. to say that there may be
big victory for hourly work- "That is enough to pay a util- some periods of time that
ers in California and could ity bill, buy a week of gro- are "so brief, irregular of
prompt additional lawsuits ceries, or cover a month of occurrence, or difficult to
against employers in the bus fares," Associate Justice accurately measure or es-
state. Goodwin Liu wrote. "What timate," that requiring an
The ruling came in a lawsuit Starbucks calls 'de minimis' employer to account for This April 6, 2012 file photo shows a Starbucks store on the
by a Starbucks employee, is not de minimis at all to them would not be reason- Embarcadero in San Francisco. Starbucks and other employers
in California must pay workers for minutes they routinely spend
Douglas Troester, who ar- many ordinary people who able. off the clock on tasks such as locking up or setting the store
gued that he was entitled work for hourly wages." She cited as examples a alarm, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday, July 26, 2018.
to be paid for the time he The ruling also applies to glitch that delays logging Associated Press
spent closing the store after tasks done before the in to a computer to start a
he had clocked out. workday begins, said Bry- shift or having to read and mitting employers under without compensation ap-
Troester said he activated an Lazarski, an attorney in acknowledge an email some circumstances to re- plied under state law.
the store alarm, locked the Los Angeles who handles or text message about a quire employees to work as The lawsuit now returns to
front door and walked co- wage claims against em- schedule change. much as 10 minutes a day the 9th Circuit.q
workers to their cars — tasks ployers. The federal court that
that required him to work Lazarski said he expects threw out Troester's lawsuit
for four to 10 additional the ruling to open the door also said it would be hard
minutes a day. to additional lawsuits by for an employer to track
Starbucks said it was disap- workers in similar situations the additional time that he
pointed with the ruling. In as Troester. But he also ex- worked. But Liu said em-
a brief filed with the Cali- pects lawsuits that "test ployers could use technol-
fornia Supreme Court, at- the boundary of what this ogy for that or restructure
torneys for Starbucks said case says" to determine employees' work so they
Troester's argument could how much time spent do- don't have any tasks after
lead to "innumerable law- ing work off the clock is they clock out.
suits over a few seconds of enough to get paid. Employers can also esti-
time." The U.S. Chamber of The court in Thursday's rul- mate the additional time,
Commerce in a court filing ing said it was not closing he said.
also warned of the possibil- the door on all claims by Troester appealed the U.S.
ity of "significant liability" to employers that the amount District Court's decision to
businesses in the state. of additional work was too the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
A U.S. District Court reject- negligible. Appeals. The appeals court
ed Troester's lawsuit on the "The court is saying, 'We asked the California Su-
grounds that the time he haven't really drawn a line preme Court to determine
spent on those tasks was with regard to what is trivial whether a federal rule per-

Court affirms order blocking Indiana

ultrasound abortion law

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An women with lengthy travel April 2017 by U.S. District
Indiana mandate that and additional expenses, a Judge Tanya Walton Pratt.
forces women to undergo federal appeals court ruled The injunction blocked the
an ultrasound at least 18 this week. The 7th U.S. Cir- ultrasound waiting period
hours before having an cuit Court of Appeals on that then-Indiana Gov.
abortion is "an undue bur- Wednesday affirmed a pre- Mike Pence signed into law
den" that saddles some liminary injunction issued in in March 2016.q