The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the time spent by oil rig workers changing into and out of protective gear is compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The court held that the compensability of this time depends on a multi-factor test, and rejected a standard that pegs compensability on whether the clothing guards against dangers

Workers in the oil and gas industry are often misclassified as exempt employees and are not paid overtime. However, this is usually illegal. The law requires employers to pay their workers overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week. Many employers attempt to avoid this requirement by paying their employees a "day rate". This means that the employee