This Shat aint' Right

[TAFBSooner]

Amazon contracts with Integrity Staffing Solutions for warehouse workers.
Amazon requires that ISS "screen" workers for theft at the end of their shift.
ISS does so with workers off the clock and taking c. 25 minutes per shift.
Workers sue ISS.
Ninth Circuit sides with workers.
ISS appeals to SCOTUS

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/08/amazons_gross_new_innovation_how_theyre_shortchang ing_everyday_americans/

Salon is left-wing site, yada yada.

Wing Nut Daily makes no mention.
Ditto Faux News.
Would love to read a conservative opionion piece to balance Salon.


Are you with Amazon/ISS, or the workers getting screwed out of a half hour per day?

[olevetonahill]

My 1st thots are I wouldnt stand in line **** em. If i worked for a company that didnt trust me then I would find another job,
On the other hand the workers knew what was going on when they took the job . so either quit or deal with it.

[badger]

By law, workers get paid for time flying or driving between work sites. Fly to Washington DC, Dallas, or San Francisco to visit a job site? Get paid for the flying time and work time at the site.

Therefore, I also side with the workers in that if they're required to stand in line for this bag check for theft or whatever, the company should be required to pay them.

Now, if they were salary and not hourly, this would be a different situation.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Suing one's employer prolly won't end well. Neither will the theft.

[yermom]

probably just cheaper to let them steal

sounds like a sure fire way to find the best and brightest employees.

i'd be very surprised of a ruling going the other way.

RLIMC, is there any dispute you wouldn't side against labor on? how long is too long to be stuck at your employer without getting paid?

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

The employer is one's boss. If somebody is unhappy with a perceived grievance, he should deal with the employer. That is, discuss it with them. A lawsuit is an invitation for a sh*t-throwing exercise. Firings can happen.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Yermom pls see PM.

[badger]

There's several things in this case that makes it an odd duck, one that you likely won't see too often at other places...

1- Amazon contracts temp agency, instructing them to bag search every night
2- Temp agency complies, but in a cheaply done way that takes a lot of time every day, adding up to hours of lost time per employee every week
3- Temp agency employees sue temp agency

Soooo... this is barely employment to begin with and it's employment by proxy, with an added unpaid annoyance at the end of every day.

I would not be surprised if SCOTUS makes a ruling that gives a little to each side. Yes, you can require a security screening before/after work day, but it can't take longer than X among of minutes per day, or time will be compensated.

[yermom]

The employer is one's boss. If somebody is unhappy with a perceived grievance, he should deal with the employer. That is, discuss it with them. A lawsuit is an invitation for a sh*t-throwing exercise. Firings can happen.

so they can just fire you at whim? i can't imagine the lawsuit is how the confrontation started though...

there are laws to protect against things like this

[rock on sooner]

so they can just fire you at whim? i can't imagine the lawsuit is how the confrontation started though...

there are laws to protect against things like this

Depends on whether or not the state is an "at will" state. One would
think that the employees tried to talk to the temp employer to be fairly
paid for the extra half hour or so. I can see both sides of this, get another
job, if you don't like what's going on and/or be compensated for job
requirements. I think the 9th Circuit got it right, if they said to pay the
people for the time. And, IMO, this isn't a lib/con thing, it is what is right
and/or fair....

[olevetonahill]

Ill bet theres a Lib or Union (Same thing tho ) agitating this .
Hell if its UP to 30 minutes a day that says it NOT that long on average. even at 30 minutes your only talking 2.5 hours a week
Deal with it or change Jobs

[TAFBSooner]

There's several things in this case that makes it an odd duck, one that you likely won't see too often at other places...

1- Amazon contracts temp agency, instructing them to bag search every night
2- Temp agency complies, but in a cheaply done way that takes a lot of time every day, adding up to hours of lost time per employee every week
3- Temp agency employees sue temp agency

Soooo... this is barely employment to begin with and it's employment by proxy, with an added unpaid annoyance at the end of every day.

I would not be surprised if SCOTUS makes a ruling that gives a little to each side. Yes, you can require a security screening before/after work day, but it can't take longer than X among of minutes per day, or time will be compensated.

The employees didn't dispute the decision to require screenings, just that it was on their time.

One option is to add more screening lanes so workers could be through in 5 minutes instead of 25. That could be more cost-effective than paying the workers for the 25 minutes. Amazon and/or ISS see it as "free" labor now, so no need to do a cost-benefit analysis.

Of course it's not free labor, just off-loaded.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Ill bet theres a Lib or Union (Same thing tho ) agitating this .
Hell if its UP to 30 minutes a day that says it NOT that long on average. even at 30 minutes your only talking 2.5 hours a week
Deal with it or change JobsHaving the courts run American business, especially by micro-managing, is, well, kind of horsesh*t.

[TAFBSooner]

Ill bet theres a Lib or Union (Same thing tho ) agitating this .
Hell if its UP to 30 minutes a day that says it NOT that long on average. even at 30 minutes your only talking 2.5 hours a week
Deal with it or change Jobs

The article used the vaunted "as much as XX or more" phrasing. I wonder if that linguistic abomination made it into "Word Crimes." It should have.

When I had kids at home, 25 minutes a day would definitely have been a big deal to me.

I wonder if the coal miner's Union is feeling particularly Liberal these days . . .

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

What will the coal miners do when the coal industry is completely destroyed?

[badger]

Employees could argue that if they're in the building waiting to be screened, they're still working, even if it's minimal, even if they appear to just be standing in line doing nothing work-related. A simple phone call to the boss while standing in line "Ya boss I took care of that order?" Work. Looking around the warehouse to see if everyone's computers are logged off for the night? Work. Counting the number of DVDs left in the giant stack to ensure inventory is correct? Work.


What will the coal miners do when the coal industry is completely destroyed?
Make Twinkies ;)

[jkjsooner]

This also goes to a bigger issue. The laws allow an exempt status for exclusion of overtime laws for certain professional employees. Most of us are probably in that category.

Companies started abusing this to get around the law. Now the person checking you out at the grocery store is probably now considered an exempt professional.

[rock on sooner]

This also goes to a bigger issue. The laws allow an exempt status for exclusion of overtime laws for certain professional employees. Most of us are probably in that category.

Companies started abusing this to get around the law. Now the person checking you out at the grocery store is probably now considered an exempt professional.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Goes along with "at will", neither of which helps the working guy/gal
but management/companies/bosses/corporations, you know, those
that worship at the "Citizens United" memorial...sure helps them...
Awww, I know, I kinda like the "little" guy/gal...sorry...