The United States Supreme Court has rendered a decision in IBP v. Alvarez and Tum v. Barber Foods. Both cases were heard in early October, 2005. The Court holds in these two matters that workers must be paid for time spent donning safety gear and walking from the location in which they don that gear to their work stations. There is no requirement to pay workers for the time they are required to wait to put on their safety gear.

The case seems to have caused somewhat of a stir in American labour law circles and is an interesting read for that reason alone.