Supreme Court stops Amazon workers lawsuit

[pwalker8]

The Supreme Court stops the Amazon workers lawsuit

http://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-...&mg=reno64-wsj

Really, I'm surprised it got that far. It was pretty straight forward from a legal point of view.

[tubemonkey]

Pay wall.

[tubemonkey]

Outrageous ruling! If it's required for continued employment, then pay 'em.

[cfrizz]

I don't have a problem with it. Don't like it, find another job where you don't have to do it.

We all know that some people would be helping themselves to the merchandise if these screenings weren't in place.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I don't have a problem with it. Don't like it, find another job where you don't have to do it.

We all know that some people would be helping themselves to the merchandise if these screenings weren't in place.

I don't have a problem with the screenings, but they should be done on the clock, not off the clock.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I don't have a problem with the screenings, but they should be done on the clock, not off the clock.

Agreed, if the company wants to implement the screening they should be paying the hourly employees for the time they're in line. If it's not an "integral and indispensable" part of their job they should have the option of bypassing it.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Barcey

Agreed, if the company wants to implement the screening they should be paying the hourly employees for the time they're in line. If it's not an "integral and indispensable" part of their job they should have the option of bypassing it.

Exactly

[rdjack21]

This has been going on for a long time and not just at Amazon. Back when I worked in manufacturing we had a similar policy and we did not get paid for the time it took to get through screening either.

I remember one time they caught this person electroplating his belt buckle with gold I think they got a few ounces before they were caught. It was that kind of stuff that caused the inspections to begin with.

So no I don't have a problem with it.

[Apache]

It would take a lot of electroplating to get an ounce of gold. He would have been having to do it over and over for a long time. Most gold plating is measured in thousandth of an inch.
Apache

[Sydney's Mom]

I used to stand in line to punch the time clock. I didn't get paid for that time, just from the time I punched in. And I didn't get paid waiting to get out of the parking lot, either. People are ridiculous. I haven't gone to lunch in forever--everyone works hard these days.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Outrageous ruling! If it's required for continued employment, then pay 'em.

It's not outrageous, it's how the law is written and has been since the 30's. Where are you going to draw the line? Should people be able to charge for the amount of time it takes to get from home to work and back? I mean, actually showing up is generally required for continued employment.

[Lynx-lynx]

I can only see this much of the Article before the WSJ wants me to subscribe:

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled Amazon.com Inc.’s warehouse workers weren’t entitled to overtime pay for time they spent in antitheft screenings at the end of work shifts, a decision that could benefit several leading companies.

The court, in an unanimous opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, said the workers

Because this screening is done at the end of a shift then my solution is that it happens in company time.

On mining sites in Aus you get random drug/alcohol screening immediately prior to entering the site. And if you work in a gold or diamond processing area then you get random screened in company time on the way out.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

I used to stand in line to punch the time clock. I didn't get paid for that time, just from the time I punched in. And I didn't get paid waiting to get out of the parking lot, either. People are ridiculous. I haven't gone to lunch in forever--everyone works hard these days.

Did you spend an hour or more doing those things? My understanding is that in this case, the time spend waiting to be searched is not trivial.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by taustin

Did you spend an hour or more doing those things? My understanding is that in this case, the time spend waiting to be searched is not trivial.

I can believe that there's been some delays along the way, but I simply don't believe the time spent is consistently non-trivial. Just like warehouse temperatures, isolated incidents get blown out of proportion.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

It's not outrageous, it's how the law is written and has been since the 30's. Where are you going to draw the line? Should people be able to charge for the amount of time it takes to get from home to work and back? I mean, actually showing up is generally required for continued employment.

You can draw the line that the party(s) who benefits pays. If it's a shared benefit it's a shared cost. In this case it's the company that is making the decision to implement or not and dumping the cost on the employees.

If Amazon was losing $500K a year from employee theft at this plant and it cost them $800K a year to implement the security scans then they would probably decide not to implement. If it only costs them $200K a year and they can dump that lost time on the employees it would be a different decision. If the decision is to have one security station and everyone waits 30 minutes a day or three security stations and everyone waits 10 minutes a day then Amazon's decision would be very different if the employees were on the clock or not.