Is waiting for a computer to start at the beginning of a shift, compensable time?

Steve Hall

We are a telephone customer service center. Employees (CSRs) do not share computers/work stations. Therefore, at the start of their shift, they need to boot their machines. Because of the software required to perform their work, this can take as much as 10 minutes from the time they sit down.

Our expectation is that a CSR should be ready to work (able to take calls and process them) at the start of the shift, and if this means they need to be in position 5 or 10 minutes earlier, their compensable time doesn't begin until the shift start time.

I was certain I'd seen DOL opinion letters addressing this several years ago, but going through the letters at the SHRM site, I can't find anything except a 1994 opinion on washing and changing clothes for meatcutters.

Can someone help me out with this? Is that "prep time" compensable? Can someone provide a reference either way?

Thanks!

~Steve in SD~

Don D

I see this as no different from changing clothes time or being required to take care of some other business before or after shift. If they are required to be on line at 8:00 and it takes 10 minutes to get on line, either you need to pay them to be there early enough to get on line or a supervisor needs to go around and 'boot up' all the machines before shift start. If you're requiring them to respond to calls precisely at shift start, then you should pay them for whatever time is required to get ready for that, whether its booting up, or changing into protective gear, or putting on a company uniform or reading the bulletin board from the prior shift. You cannot require that they volunteer their time to respond to a company mandate.

System

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-18-02 AT 12:39PM (CST)[/font][p]I was just reading about this, and Don D hit it right on the nose. It's work, so pay 'em. Or turn on their computers ahead of time.

It's different if they choose to change into a uniform at work when they're allowed to take their uniform home and change there instead.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers