Staffing agency can't 'lock out' PMWA claim for time spent commuting across picket line

A federal judge in Pittsburgh is finally allowing discovery (i.e., the pretrial exchange of evidence) on a temporary employee's nearly five-year-old claims that his employer failed to pay him for time he spent commuting across picket lines outside the factory where he worked.

At one point, the case was appealed to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent it back to the lower court for further proceedings. On March 23, 2020, Chief District Judge Mark R. Hornak adopted the report and recommendations of the assigned magistrate, finding the employee's allegations were sufficient to proceed under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA).

The report adopted by the district court illustrates some of the complexities of determining when an employee's travel to work should be considered compensable and highlights the PMWA's and the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) differences on the issue.

Background

Ralph Smith's claims stem from a union lockout by Allegheny Technologies, Inc. (ATI), at its Pennsylvania and Oregon steelmaking facilities in 2015. Strom Engineering Corp. contracted with ATI to provide temporary workers, including Smith. While working at ATI, Smith was housed in a hotel approximately 45 minutes away from the worksite and was required to ride between the hotel and ATI's plant in a van operated by Strom.

In July 2017, Smith (and another worker who is no longer involved in the case) sued ATI and Strom under the FLSA, the PMWA, and the Oregon minimum wage statute for failing to compensate workers for the time they spent traveling between the hotel and ATI's plant.