By Rachel Cohen
Inside Bay Area
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. — Putting on and taking off a police uniform, along with the required safety gear, can take about a half-hour — and some believe they should be compensated for it.
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel said earlier this week in an interim decision that police in San Leandro should be paid for time known as “donning and doffing.”
Patel said about 15 similar cases have been filed in California this year but that this is only the third to have received any kind of decision.
“This is a relatively new, open area of law,” said the city of San Leandro’s lawyer Kathy Mount of the firm Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver & Wilson.
Patel’s interim ruling conflicts with rulings in earlier cases.
A decision made by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in a case filed by Richmond police in September 2006 stated that officers should not be paid for time it takes to get dressed, but he left it open as to whether officers should be paid for time it takes to put on safety equipment.
A San Diego case in November said officers should not be paid for time to put on their uniforms or gear, Mount said.
The San Leandro suit was brought by Sgt. Greg Lemmon, president of the San Leandro Police Officers Association, on behalf of 54 San Leandro patrol officers under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which states that anything that is integral and indispensable to work performance should be compensated.
The suit cites examples of other employees who are paid for time spent donning specific work clothes, such as at meat products plants, and silicon and battery manufacturing plants.
The suit details all the clothing and equipment patrol officers are required to wear, including gun holster, ammunition, handcuffs, uniform, police badge, name tag, uniform socks and shoes.
The city has argued that it takes only 10 minutes to put on and take off the uniform, not the 25 to 35 minutes that officers contend.
If the case is ruled in favor of San Leandro police, then officers could be retroactively entitled to three years’ compensation, two from before the case was filed and then an additional year to the present date.
“There is no dispute that the police officers do good and important work, and the city has no interest in underpaying in its officers,” Mount said.
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