No. The time that employees spend walking to their production area after putting on required work gear is must be compensated under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled The time spent waiting to take off protective work gear is also compensable under the Act. However, the time spent waiting to put on the first piece of gear prior to the start of the workday is not compensable under the FLSA.

What’s the difference? The pre-dressing wait time is not part of the continuous workday. "During a continuous workday, any walking time that occurs after the beginning of the employee's first principal activity and before the end of the employee's last principal activity is . . . covered by the FLSA," Justice Stevens wrote for a unanimous Court. The employees' first principal activity is putting on their work gear; their last, taking off that same work gear. In reaching its decision, the Court applied the "continuous workday" rule, a Labor Department regulation which defines the "workday" as "the period between the commencement and completion on the same workday of an employee's principal activity or activities."

The Court also advanced another key principle: Any activity that is "integral and indispensable" to a "principal activity" is itself a "principal activity." The Court rejected the employer's urging that it essentially adopt a category of activities (and count walking time within this category) that were concededly "integral and indispensable," but not "principal activities" and thus not compensable.

Taken together, then, putting on and taking off required work gear are "integral and indispensable," and thus "principal" activities. And, as the first and last principal activities of the day, the time between them is part of the continuous workday, and as such is compensable (notwithstanding certain unpaid break periods). This includes the time walking to and from the locker room and production sites, as well as the time workers had to wait to remove their work gear before taking it off. However, applying the continuous workday rule to the facts in this case, the time spent waiting to dress before putting on work gear would qualify as a "preliminary activity" because it occurs prior to the start of the workday; thus, it would not be compensable time.