On July 21, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a highly anticipated decision in Heimbach v. Amazon.com, answering two questions certified from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit:  

• Is time spent by a nonexempt employee on an employer's premises waiting to undergo, and undergoing, mandatory security screening, compensable time under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA); and 
• Does the de minimis doctrine apply to bar claims for negligible or insignificant amounts of time worked under the PMWA?  

The court answered yes to the former and no to the latter, ultimately deciding that time spent on an employer's premises undergoing mandatory security screenings is compensable time under the PMWA and declining to apply the de minimis doctrine to the PMWA. This decision is the latest in a line of cases interpreting the PMWA more expansively than the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which already is leading to the filing of PMWA putative class action lawsuits.