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• Off-The-Clock Work
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Defendant Off-The-Clock Work Case Study

California Auto Parts Chain

Case Details

In this class action case, hourly employees of a California auto parts store chain seek compensation for work performed at closing while off-the-clock. Plaintiffs allege that a considerable amount of time is spent performing closing duties each day after clock-out. We were retained by defense counsel to measure the amount of time employees’ actually spent performing closing duties while off-the-clock. The data we collected would be used by defense counsel to evaluate the accuracy of the company’s time-clock data. Because the class had been certified in California, we observed at stores in adjacent states. Our sampling procedure ensured that the results of the study were generalizable to class members in California.

Our Study

• Developed a time and motion observation protocol that allowed us to precisely measure the exact amount of time that employees performed key closing activities and off-the-clock work.
• Identified locations of all store locations in four states where store closing operations were very similar to those in California.
• Selected a sample of stores and conducted observations to measure the precise amount of time employees spent performing closing duties while clocked-in and while clocked-out. Precise times were recorded with atomic watches to ensure accuracy of the time data.

Results

Overall, results of the time study suggested that generally closing activities took less than 30 minutes to complete, and the amount of time closing managers spent clocked-out before their shift ended was approximately 4 minutes. The amount of time individuals spent on closing activities and the amount of time it took to run the closing programs did vary person to person. Dr. Banks wrote a report summarizing the results of the study. This case is still pending.