Now, as to the facts, I'm not really certain that it actually takes (as plaintiffs claim) "between 6.8 to 12.1 minutes" to boot up a computer at the beginning of work, or that it similarly takes "an average of 4.75
to 7.75 minutes to log off and boot down" a computer after work. Unless these computer are from, say, 1990. My work computer takes about a minute or two to boot up, and less than 30 seconds to shut down. And I assure you that the computers at my work are about as old and slow as any known to man.
But if, in fact, it takes that look to boot up a computer, and because of the employer's timekeeping system, the plaintiffs only get paid once they boot up the computer and log it, then, yeah, they should get paid for that time, and weren't. Their job is to listen to calls over a computer, and booting up that computer is part of that job. You can't do the former without the latter.
If it were a minute or two, maybe that time would be de minimus -- an issue that the panel leaves for the district court on remand. But 12 minutes to boot up a computer?! If that's really true -- and I doubt it, but what do I know about the computers at issue here? -- then, yeah, they should get paid for that.
Something for the district court to decide as a factual matter on remand.
