California Court Holds That Staffing Companies Must Pay Employees For Time Spent Interviewing for Work Assignments.
A Federal District Court in California has held that a staffing agency must pay an employee for the time she spent interviewing for work assignments with the staffing agency's clients under California Law. However, the Court held that time spent by the employee preparing, commuting and debriefing with the staffing agency after the interviews is not compensable, nor are expenses incurred in attending interviews.
The Court examined the staffing agency's level of control over its employees during the interview process and found that the staffing agency exerted a high level of control over the employee's interviews with its customers. The Court observed that the staffing agency controlled all communications with its customers regarding potential assignments for temporary employees, decided which potential employees to send on an interview, arranged the interviews, directed employees as to how to prepare for the interviews, and debriefed employees following interviews. The Court also observed that the staffing agency's "level of control in the interview process differs significantly from the common interview situation during which individuals independently schedule and attend interviews with a new prospective employer on their own behalf."
The Court rejected the staffing agency's arguments that the interviews were voluntary (finding that failure to interview would prevent the employee from being considered for 50% of the job assignments) and that employees were not employed in between work assignments.
Should the decision be upheld and/or adopted by other jurisdictions, staffing agencies could be subject to unpaid wage claims for time spent by the agencies' employees interviewing with the agencies' clients. Staffing agencies may face potential liability unless they can show that their employees are not under their control in connection with the interview process or that they do not "suffer or permit" such activity by their employees.
