Sandifer et al. v. United States Steel Corp., 678 F. 3d 590, is a United States Supreme Court case argued on November 4, 2013 and decided on January 27, 2014. The case was decided at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on May 8, 2012, prior to being held by the United States Supreme Court. The issue in Sandifer et al. v. United States Steel Corp. (2014) was whether workers should be compensated for time spent putting on and taking off safety gear, when the applicable collective bargaining agreement excludes time spent “changing clothes” from the compensable workday and that exclusion is permitted by section 203(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Clifton Sandifer and a group of former and current steelworkers represented by United Steelworkers labor union sued United States Steel Corp. for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. United Steelworkers has had a collective bargaining agreement in place with U.S. Steel since 1947 which includes a stipulation that workers will not be paid for the time it takes to put on their safety gear before they start working or for the time it takes to remove their safety gear after they stop working. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay workers for these activities, but section 203(o) allows exceptions to payment for time spent “changing clothes”.

The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision affirming the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2012 ruling. The Supreme Court held that an employer was not required to pay union employees for the time it takes them to put on and take off protective gear when their collective bargaining agreement did not provide compensation for that time. In order to for the Supreme Court to come to the decision the Justices had to examine the meaning and used of the word “clothes” as it applies to the collective bargaining agreements. The court