Jeffrey (Jeff) H. Ruzal, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s New York office, was quoted in the Bloomberg Law Daily Labor Report, in “Remote Workday Ruling Reignites Pay Debate, Boosts Employers,” by Jennifer Bennett. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
An Ohio district court ruling may give call centers a road map for determining when compensable time for remote workers begins, sparking a hot debate and potentially impacting thousands of employees.
Workers clocking in must juggle the need to quickly start taking customer calls with spending time loading multiple programs to address those calls. Complicating the question of when compensable time starts, a federal judge in Ohio last week issued what he described as one of the first opinions to wrestle with how fielding calls from home changes things.
Judge Douglas R. Cole found workers punch in when they start using that first workplace app, not when they press the power button. Not everyone agrees with his reasoning, especially at a time when telework is increasing as millions of workers are now remote. …
There’s no “one-size-fits-all approach” to resolving those questions, and it’s “entirely logical and practical” to say at-home work matters, said Epstein Becker & Green PC’s Jeff Ruzal, who defends employers in wage suits.
Still, attorneys agree employers will likely look to Cole’s US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruling when arguing why certain tasks aren’t integral and indispensable to workers’ jobs, meaning companies aren’t obligated to pay for them.
Cole’s approach “begs a fresh look by other courts as to how to analyze this issue,” Ruzal said.
