Steiner, Doing Business as Cumberland Battery Manufacturing Co. v. Mitchell

Summary

Chief Justice Warren delivered the unanimous opinion holding that the battery-plant employees’ clothes-changing and showering time was compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act because those activities were integral and indispensable to their principal work with toxic and caustic materials. The Portal-to-Portal Act does not exclude such activities merely because they occur outside regular shifts or off the production line. Relying on the statutory structure and legislative history, the Court affirmed the Sixth Circuit’s judgment upholding prospective injunctive relief. The case did not concern back pay or clothes-changing and showering under ordinary working conditions. There were no separate opinions.