Supreme Court to Define the Word “Clothes” and Settle DOL Flip-Flopping

On Monday, November 4, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp. on the issue of the meaning of the term “clothes” in Section 3(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Court’s decision will have a substantial impact on unionized employers in a wide variety of industries where workers change in and out of protective clothing at the start and end of their workday, including food processing, light and heavy industrial manufacturing, chemical processing, energy production, and health care.