As previously discussed, a federal court in the Western District of New York issued several important rulings in an FLSA case brought by a retail specialist responsible for the stocking, pricing and display of Black & Decker products at six Home Depot stores. In an omnibus decision reviewing all of these district rulings, the Second Circuit has held:
· The district court properly ruled that the time plaintiff spent commuting to any of the six stores was non-compensable commuting time, even if it was preceded by compensable administrative work in the form of reviewing schedules or work-related communications; and
· The district court erred in granting summary judgment as to Plaintiff’s off-the-clock claim, finding fact issues existed regarding whether Kuebel, who admitted to falsely shaving time from his time sheets to reflect only forty hours of work, was following instructions given by supervisors.
Kuebel v. Black & Decker Inc., No. 10-2273, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 9448 (2d Cir. May 5, 2011). Detailed analysis of this decision is available on the Jackson Lewis web site here.