Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp.

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

These appeals arise out of a class action (technically a “collective action,” as it is brought pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq., rather than pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23) on behalf of 800 former and current hourly workers at U.S. Steel’s steel works in Gary, Indiana. The plaintiffs argue that U.S. Steel has violated the Act by failing to compensate them for the time they spend in putting on and taking off their work clothes in a locker room at the plant (“clothes-changing time”) and in walking from…