The U.S. Justice Department is arguing in a case at the U.S. Supreme Court that a group of workers at a Pennsylvania-based publishing company should be paid for breaks that last 20 minutes or less.

The company, American Future Systems Inc., which does business as Progressive Business Publications, is challenging a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that said the Fair Labor Standards Act requires businesses to pay workers for breaks under 20 minutes. The Justice Department's brief, filed this week, supported the appeals court decision.

Progressive docked pay whenever a sales representative logged off a computer for more than 90 seconds, which included bathroom or coffee breaks. Progressive argues in its cert petition to the Supreme Court, filed by Drinker, Biddle & Reath, that federal courts are divided on how to interpret when a short break should be considered “work.”

Paid break time, according to Progressive's lawyers, should be determined based on “an assessment of all the facts and circumstances,” rather than the “bright-line rules advocated by the Labor Department.” Progressive argued that time spent logged off under its “flexible break policy” does not constitute work and that a fact-specific analysis should be used.

The Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to keep in place the Third Circuit's ruling.

“Unlike meal periods, 'short' rest periods—that is, breaks of a 'short duration' up to '20 minutes'—have 'customarily [been] paid for as working time,' and are thus properly understood to be part of the compensable workday,” the Justice Department said in its filing. The government continued: “Such breaks as a class are logically understood primarily to benefit employers by enabling employees to maintain a higher degree of productivity throughout the workday.”

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The Justice Department disputed the company's assertion that federal appeals courts are divided, saying the FLSA is clear on the issue.

“The court of appeals correctly concluded that the short breaks in this case qualified as compensable work under the FLSA, and its decision does not conflict with any decision of this Court or any other courts of appeals. No further review is warranted,” the Justice Department's brief said.

Progressive, based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, publishes and distributes business-information publications through telemarketers who are paid an hourly wage and receive bonuses based on the number of sales they make when logged onto their workstation. On average, sales representatives are each paid for just over five hours per day at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Progressive's previous policy gave employees two 15-minute paid breaks per day. The company changed its policy in 2009 and eliminated the breaks but allowed employees to log off their computers at any time. Under the policy, the employees are only paid for the time they are logged on. The sales representatives would be docked for failing to work a certain number of hours and cannot work more than 40 hours per week.

The Labor Department in 2015 sued Progressive, claiming the company failed to pay the federal minimum wage to its employees because of its policy. The department argued that rest periods between five and 20 minutes are common in the industry and that “they promote the efficiency of the employee and are customarily paid for as working time.”

Progressive's case has not yet been set for conference at the Supreme Court.