In a matter of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit looked to clarify what qualifies as "integral and indispensable" employment tasks, after oil rig hands sought compensation for the time they spent changing in and out of protective gear under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In an Aug. 16 opinion, authored by Judge Stephanos Bibas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the court vacated and reversed a district court's decision that oil-rig hands need not be paid for changing gear, concluding that it had applied the wrong legal test and genuine factual disputes still existed.