The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Maryland’s Wage and Hour Law (MWHL) both require that non-exempt employees, i.e., those who are not exempt from the requirement to be paid overtime, be paid for all hours worked. In fact, it is often a point of contention I have with employers when employees work unauthorized overtime -- employees must be paid for those hours worked, including any overtime premium (although they can be disciplined if they violated their employer’s policies).

One of the few exceptions to that general rule under the FLSA has been the de minimis doctrine. That doctrine allows employers to disregard “insubstantial or insignificant” amounts of time that employees spend on work-related tasks when calculating their total hours worked. FLSA regulations state that the rule applies only “where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved of a few seconds or minutes duration, and where the failure to count such time is due to considerations justified by industrial realities.”

In a recent win for employers, the Maryland Supreme Court held in Martinez v. Amazon.com Services LLC that the de minimis doctrine applies to claims brought under the state’s wage and hour laws, as well.

The case originated from Amazon workers bringing a class-action lawsuit against the company over unpaid wages for time spent waiting to undergo, and ultimately undergoing, mandatory security screenings at a fulfillment center. The time spent each day ranged from three minutes or less to 15 minutes or more.

Maryland’s legislature had not specifically adopted or incorporated the de minimis doctrine into the Maryland’s wage laws. Nonetheless, the Court found that Maryland legislators intended to incorporate the doctrine when enacting the MWHL, and that they would have expressly said that they were not so incorporating the doctrine if that was their intention.

The case now moves back to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland to specifically define the parameters of the doctrine. In the meantime, this case has very real implications for Maryland employers. Employees alleging that they have not been paid properly often choose to bring claims under Maryland’s Wage Payment and Collection Law (MWPCL), rather than the FLSA, because of the enhanced damages available to employees under the state law. By affirming the de minimis doctrine as part of State law, the Maryland Supreme Court has provided Maryland employers with a little more assurance that very brief periods of time spent on pre-work activities will not add up and be used against them.

We urge you to contact your RKW employment attorney to see whether your company’s policies on timekeeping reflect the current state of the law.

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