The ruling provides clarity for Wisconsin business owners that allow commuting in work vehicles.
On March 20, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in Kieninger v. Crown Equipment that employers are not required to pay for time spent commuting in company vehicle to or from their home to job site.
The case involved former employees of Crown Equipment Corp. arguing that the circuit court failed to adhere to the federal Employee Commuting Flexibility Act after their Wisconsin wage claims were rejected.
According to the National Law Review, employees were given two options: leave home in their personal vehicle, pick up their van at the branch office, and drive to the first job,” or “take a company van home and go directly to the first job of the day from home.” The difference between the two was that the first option’s paid time included the commute to the worksite and back. The latter option’s payment would begin as soon as the employee arrived at the worksite.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court found that “an employee creates value for his employer, of course, by bringing his physical and mental resources to bear on the company’s business. So, according to Mr. Kieninger’s logic, all employees would have to be paid for their commutes because conveying an employee’s physical and mental resources to the office is integral and indispensable to a principal activity, to wit, whatever they were hired to do.”
