EMPLOYER MUST COMPENSATE FOR TIME SPENT OPENING AND CLOSING STORES

The California Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, recently issued a ruling which held that employees must be paid for time spent opening and closing stores. The decision comes from a lawsuit filed by a shift supervisor who worked at Starbucks, who argued he should have been paid for the time spent after work closing the business and walking other employees to their cars.

In reaching its decision, the Court held that while California law does make some allowances based on considerations of practicality and reasonableness, it does not "permit an employer to require an employee to regularly work for nontrivial periods of time without providing compensation."

National chains like Starbucks might be affected most by the California Supreme Court's decision. The decision can be accessed here, in the case of Douglas Troester v. Starbucks Corp.