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Singh v. City of New York

City fire alarm inspectors' mere carrying of inspection documents while commuting to and from work, without any other active employment-related responsibilities, was not compensable "work" under Fair Labor Standards Act, except to extent duration of commute was increased; where any such increase was de minimis as matter of law, increase in commuting time was not compensable.

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Argued: October 1, 2007

Before NEWMAN, SOTOMAYOR and WESLEY, Circuit Judges.

This case requires us to decide whether the City of New York (“City”) fire alarm inspectors must be compensated under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., for all or part of their commuting time from home to work and back because they are required by their employer to carry and keep safe necessary inspection documents during their commutes. Plaintiffs-appellants Rajkumar Singh, Thomas S. Matthews, Vivek N. Patil, Trushant Shah, Faramarz Robeny and Fredo Joseph (collectively the “plaintiffs”) appeal from a June 2, 2006 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Castel, J.), granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant-appellee City and denying the plaintiffs’ cross-motion for summary judgment. We hold that, in the particular circumstances of this case, the mere carrying of inspection documents without any other active employment-related responsibilities while commuting is not work under the FLSA, except to the extent that it increases the duration of the commute. The record shows that any increase in commuting time in this case is de minimis as a matter of law and thus not compensable under the FLSA. Therefore, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment, concluding that none of the plaintiffs’ commuting time is compensable under the FLSA. In addition, we conclude that Singh’s First Amendment retaliation claim is without merit because his speech was not a matter of public concern and was made only in his capacity as an employee and not as a citizen.

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