{"id":1122,"date":"2015-12-24T11:54:38","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T16:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/events.lindabury.com\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2025-02-05T11:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:21:13","slug":"predominant-benefit-test-determines-compensable-meal-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/predominant-benefit-test-determines-compensable-meal-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Third Circuit Joins Majority in Adopting \u201cPredominant Benefit\u201d Test to Determine Whether Meal Time is Compensable Under the FLSA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When employees are required to remain on premises or otherwise be available to the employer during an unpaid meal break, the issue arises whether the meal time is compensable time under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).\u00a0\u00a0 Two tests have been developed by the courts of appeal in other jurisdictions, one focusing on whether the employee was relieved from all duties during the meal break, and the other more common view focusing on whether the employer or the employee received the \u201cpredominant benefit\u201d of the meal break.\u00a0\u00a0 In <em>Babcock v. Butler County<\/em>, No. 14-1467 (3d Cir. 2015) the Third Circuit finally weighed in, adopting the \u201cpredominant benefit\u201d test to determine whether the time is compensable.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The Facts:<\/strong><\/span> Pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement, Butler County Prison correction officers received a one hour meal period each shift, of which 45 minutes were paid and 15 minutes were unpaid.\u00a0\u00a0 During the meal period corrections officers were not permitted to leave the prison without permission, were required to stay in uniform and in close proximity to emergency response equipment, and remain on call to respond to emergencies.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The corrections officers claimed they were entitled to pay for the full hour (e.g., the unpaid 15 minutes) under the FLSA because these restrictions prevented them from leaving the facility, smoking or engaging in other personal errands during the meal period.\u00a0 The County claimed that the lunch hours was a non-compensable \u201cbona fide meal period\u201d under the FLSA because the corrections officers received the \u201cpredominant benefit\u201d of the break period.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Holding:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 The Third Circuit agreed with the District Court\u2019s ruling that under the facts presented, the corrections officers were the predominant beneficiaries of the meal break, and thus the time was not compensable time under the FLSA.\u00a0\u00a0 The court rejected the minority \u201crelieved from all duties\u201d test that would result in the time being compensable if the employee was not free to leave the premises, was on call or was otherwise restricted in any way from engaging in personal activities during the break.\u00a0 Under the more flexible \u201cpredominant benefit\u201d test adopted by the court, such restrictions would not necessarily negate the \u201cbona fide meal period\u201d status if on balance the restrictions did not predominantly benefit the employer. In ruling against the corrections officers, the court observed that the officers could request permission to leave the prison to eat their lunch and could eat away from their desks.\u00a0\u00a0 The court also relied upon the fact that the officers were protected by a CBA that provided them with a partially-compensated meal period and assured them payment for overtime payments.\u00a0 Under the totality of the circumstances, the court reasoned that despite the restrictions, the meal break was predominantly for the benefit of the corrections officers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/predominant-benefit-test-determines-compensable-meal-time.html\"  title=\"Continue Reading Third Circuit Joins Majority in Adopting \u201cPredominant Benefit\u201d Test to Determine Whether Meal Time is Compensable Under the FLSA\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether restrictions imposed upon employees during a meal period will result in that time being compensable under the FLSA remains a fact-sensitive inquiry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,247],"tags":[],"coauthors":[139],"class_list":["post-1122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insights","category-labor-employment-insights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Third Circuit Joins Majority in Adopting \u201cPredominant Benefit\u201d Test to Determine Whether Meal Time is Compensable Under the FLSA &#8212; December 24, 2015 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. 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