Jones v. C&D Techs., Inc.
| Decision Date | 03 October 2012 |
| Docket Number | 1:11-cv-01431-JMS-DKL |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana |
| Parties | JOSHUA D. JONES, et al., Plaintiffs, v. C&D TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Defendant. |
Presently before the Court in this action brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") are Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, [dkt. 88], and Defendant C&D Technologies, Inc.'s ("C&D") Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, [dkt. 94]. For the following reasons, the Court grants Plaintiffs' motion in part and denies it in part, and grants C&D's motion in part and denies it in part.
A. A Typical Day at C&D
C&D's Attica facility manufactures industrial batteries. [Dkt. 24 at 3, ¶ 8.] The manufacturing process at the Attica plant requires C&D's employees to work with toxic materials, particularly lead. [Id.; dkt. 78 at 3, ¶ 4.] Due to these toxic materials, both C&D and governmental regulations require that C&D employees change into and out of safety clothes and shower. [Dkt. 78 at 3, ¶ 4.]
C&D runs three eight-hour shifts: first shift, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; second shift, from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; and third shift, from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. [Id. at 3, ¶ 6.] An employee's shift begins and ends with safety-related activities, and generally proceeds as follows: (1) employees punch a yellow time card upon arrival at the Attica facility, [id. at 3, ¶ 5]; (2) employees change in a locker room from their personal clothes into C&D-issued safety clothing, and employees who wear respirators and/or safety helmets with full-face masks then walk from the locker room to a separate respirator area to pick up the respirators and/or safety helmets, [id. at 4, ¶ 9]; (3) employees walk to their "white time card area," where they punch a white time card, [id. at 3-4, ¶¶ 8-9]; (4) employees travel to their work station, don their respirator or helmet if they use one, and begin production work, [id. at 4, ¶ 9]; (5) after production work is complete, employees walk to the "white time card area," and punch out on their white time card (generally ten minutes prior to the end of their scheduled eight-hour shift), [id. at 4, ¶ 10]; (6) employees walk to a "wash out" room where they return safety equipment for cleaning (if they used safety equipment) and are able to vacuum their C&D-issued safety clothing if they wish, [id.]; (7) employees walk to the locker room, change out of their work clothes, take a required shower, and change back into their personal clothing, [id.]; and (8) employees punch out on their yellow card upon leaving the Attica facility, [id.].
The following diagram depicts the timeline for these different activities:
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ ¦ ¦"Beginning " ¦ ¦"Ending ¦ ¦ ¦
¦"Pre-Donning ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦"Doffing/ ¦"Post-Doffing ¦
¦ ¦"Donning" ¦Boundary ¦"Work Period" ¦Boundary ¦ ¦ ¦
¦Activities" ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦Washing" ¦Activities" ¦
¦ ¦ ¦Activities" ¦ ¦Activities" ¦ ¦ ¦
+--------------+-----------+--------------+---------------+-------------+-----------+---------------¦
¦ ¦ ¦Walk from ¦ ¦ ¦Doff safety¦ ¦
¦Arrive at ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦Doff safety ¦clothes ¦Walk from ¦
¦ ¦ ¦locker room ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦plant ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦gear (only +-----------¦locker room to ¦
¦ ¦ ¦to safety gear¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
+--------------¦ ¦ ¦ ¦some em- ¦Shower ¦"yellow time ¦
¦ ¦ ¦area and pick ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦Punch yellow ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ployees) +-----------¦card area" ¦
¦ ¦ ¦up safety gear¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦time card ¦ ¦ ¦ +-------------¦ +---------------¦
¦ ¦ ¦(only some ¦ ¦Walk from ¦ ¦Punch yellow ¦
+--------------¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦employees) ¦ ¦work area ¦ ¦time card ¦
¦ ¦ +--------------¦ ¦ ¦ +---------------¦
¦ ¦ ¦Walk to ¦ ¦to "white ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦"white time ¦ ¦time card ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦card area" ¦ ¦area" ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ +--------------¦ +-------------¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦Punch ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦Punch white ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦white time ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦time card ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦Change from¦ ¦Work on the ¦card ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦personal +--------------¦ +-------------¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦clothes ¦ ¦production ¦Walk to ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦into safety¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦clothes ¦ ¦line ¦"wash out ¦Change back¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦into ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦Walk to work ¦ ¦room" to ¦ ¦ ¦
¦Walk to lock- ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦personal ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦area ¦ ¦return safe- ¦clothes ¦ ¦
¦er room ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦Exit plant ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ty gear ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦(only some ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ +--------------¦ ¦employees) ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦and vacu- ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦um safety ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦Don safety ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦clothing if ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦gear (only ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦desired ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦some em- ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ +-------------¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ployees) ¦ ¦Walk to ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦locker ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦room ¦ ¦ ¦
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
B. The Collective Bargaining Agreement
C&D's hourly manufacturing employees at the Attica facility have long been represented by the International Union of Electrical Workers, and Communication Workers of America IUE-CWA Local No. 84950 ("the Union") as their exclusive collective bargaining representative. [Id. at 1, ¶ 1.] The 2007-2012 Collective Bargaining Agreement ("CBA") entered into by C&D and the Union provides:
ARTICLE 18 - Health and Safety
(B) To ensure and safeguard the health and safety of all employees the Company has installed and maintains certain protective facilities and provides time for their use. An allowance time of five (5) minutes is provided between the start of the shift and the time [an] employee must be at his work station for changing into acid resistant or dust proof clothing. In addition, a wash-up allowance time of five (5) minutes before lunch and ten (10) minutes wash-up and shower period before quitting time is given to all...
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