An appeals court has ruled that East Penn Manufacturing in Berks County, with listed facilities in Folcroft, owes $22 million in overtime back wages for underpaid showers and changing times for battery factory workers in Berks County.
The appeals court agreed with a federal jury verdict issued in Pennsylvania last year that workers should be paid for the actual amount of time they spend showering and changing before and after work, not just a pre-determined reasonable estimate, writes Lizzy McLellan Ravitch for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“If employers claim that time was trivial, they bear the burden of proving that.” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas.
Showers and a change of clothes are done for safety reasons to avoid lead exposure.
East Penn didn’t’ pay workers at all for showering and changing until 2002, and then paid for 10 minutes, without recording the actual time needed.
The jury’s verdict was the largest the U.S. Department of Labor had ever won on behalf of workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
It was appealed by East Penn Manufacturing. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued its ruling Dec. 19.
About 7,500 workers are impacted by the court decision.
Read more about the original case and the appeals ruling in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on DELCO Today in January 2025.
