Michael Thompson, a Member of the Firm in the Labor and Employment practice, in the firm’s Newark office, was featured in Corporate Counsel, in “Employee Meal Time Can Be Compensable Time for Remote Workers.”
Following is an excerpt:
Driving and eating is no fun, at least that’s what the Fifth Circuit thinks. According to Michael Thompson of Epstein Becker Green, the court recently held that an employer may have to compensate employees for meal breaks if a significant amount of travel time is required to reach the break area.
In the case, Securiguard employees were watching over gates at a Naval air station. Some only had to travel a few yards to the designated break areas, but for others it was a 12-minute round trip. They asked to eat at the stations, but Securiguard said no, because they didn’t want it to look like the guards were slacking at their duties.
Mr. Thompson has also written about this topic in “Meal Periods with Travel Restrictions May Be Compensable,” on the Wage & Hour Defense Blog, an Epstein Becker Green publication.