Wage-and-hour disputes often come down to one deceptively simple question: when does paid work actually begin? A recent Eleventh Circuit decision draws some clear – and employer-friendly – lines around travel time, tool time, and waiting time under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
TL;DR: The Eleventh Circuit held that temporary laborers were not entitled to pay for time spent waiting at a labor hall, collecting generic tools, or traveling from the labor hall to job sites – even when the employer offered optional transportation. None of that time was “integral and indispensable” to the employees’ principal job duties, and transportation deductions were lawful because the transportation primarily benefited employees, not the employer.
📄 Read the court’s decision here
A labor hall, optional benefits, and a pay dispute
The employer operated a staffing business that placed workers in short-term, day-to-day assignments. Workers known as “daily ticket workers” voluntarily gathered at a labor hall to indicate their availability for work. If selected, they received a ticket identifying the jobsite, start time, and any suggested or required equipment.
The company offered optional transportation from the labor hall to jobsites and access to basic equipment – items like hard hats, safety vests, gloves, goggles, brooms, rakes, shovels, masks, and work boots. Workers could also use their own transportation or bring their own tools.
Workers who used company vans or carpools were charged $3.00 per day ($1.50 each way), and carpool drivers were paid $1.50 per rider per leg. At the end of the day, workers typically returned to the labor hall, returned any borrowed equipment, and were paid.
Several hundred workers sued, claiming the employer violated the FLSA and Florida law by deducting transportation costs and failing to pay for travel time, tool collection, and waiting time. The district court entered summary judgment for the employer, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed.
The governing rule: “integral and indispensable” still controls
Under the Portal-to-Portal Act, employers are not required to pay for preliminary or postliminary activities unless those activities are an “integral and indispensable” part of the employee’s principal job duties.
The court emphasized a key point: the test focuses on the productive work the employee was hired to perform – not whether the employer required, offered, or incidentally benefited from the activity.
Transportation deductions and travel time
The court rejected the argument that transportation deductions unlawfully reduced wages below the minimum wage. Transportation was optional, workers had multiple ways to get to jobsites, and customers did not require employer-provided transportation. Even though timely arrivals also benefited the employer, the transportation primarily benefited employees.
Travel from the labor hall to the jobsite was treated as ordinary commuting time. Providing transportation did not change that result, nor did the fact that workers often gathered at the labor hall first. Critically, workers were not required to wait for employer-provided transportation and could proceed directly to the jobsite if they wished. The court also found Department of Labor guidance persuasive, which treats travel from a central location to a customer’s establishment for temporary labor as noncompensable.
Tool collection and waiting time
The court likewise rejected claims for time spent collecting and returning tools. The equipment was nonspecialized, some jobs required no tools at all, workers could bring their own tools, and workers could still receive assignments even if they lacked recommended equipment. Activities that are helpful or convenient do not automatically become integral and indispensable.
Finally, the court held that time spent waiting at the labor hall or for transportation was noncompensable. Workers decided when and whether to seek assignments, understood they were paid only for time spent working at jobsites, and used waiting time for personal activities like getting coffee, sleeping, smoking, or leaving the premises. That kind of waiting time was too far removed from productive work to require pay.
Bottom line for employers
- The workday begins with productive work, not convenience. Activities that make work easier are not automatically compensable.
- Employer involvement alone does not trigger pay obligations. Providing tools or transportation is not the same as requiring paid time.
- Central meeting points do not automatically start the workday. Voluntary reporting is different from required reporting.
- Generic tools are not the same as specialized, job-critical equipment. That distinction drives whether tool time is compensable.
- Waiting to be engaged remains different from being engaged to wait. When employees are free to use the time for themselves, pay is not required.
Not every minute connected to work is paid work – and this case is a useful reminder of where the FLSA draws the line.