A remote worker’s workday does not begin when the worker turns on the computer, a federal judge ruled September 4 in Lott v. Recker Consulting. The workday starts when a remote worker opens and begins operating a program used as part of their principal work activities, and it ends when the employee closes out of the last such program, the judge concluded.
The suit was brought by patient care associates who worked at home for a call center. They alleged violations of the FLSA and Ohio law.
The court found these activities to be preliminary or postliminary (and therefore not compensable): turning on the computer; entering a username and password; dual authentication; opening the timekeeping system; accessing a VPN; and shutting down the computer. Those activities may be indispensable, but “they are not integral to the employees’ principal duties of answering inbound calls,” the opinion said.
This decision is the first we know of that provides a concrete test for the beginning of a remote employee’s workday. Wage and hour cases are highly fact-specific, however, so other courts may reach different conclusions. Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.