Should corrections workers be paid for pre- and post-shift tasks? SCOWIS weighs case.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is weighing whether thousands of corrections workers should be able to sue as a group in a dispute over pay.

Several corrections workers sued the Wisconsin Department of Corrections in 2020, saying they should be paid for carrying out duties before and after their shifts officially start.

That includes going through security screenings, putting on equipment and conducting post-shift briefings.

A Milwaukee County Circuit Court granted class action status in the case, saying corrections officers should be allowed to sue as a group. But an appeals court disagreed.

Now, attorneys for the workers are asking the state’s highest court to reverse the appellate ruling and send the matter back to the circuit court so the lawsuit can move forward with thousands of plaintiffs.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to take up that request, and justices heard oral arguments in the dispute Friday.

The proposed class would include about 5,000 corrections officers and sergeants, according to attorneys for the employees.

But Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General Steven Kilpatrick, who represents the state’s prison system, told justices that class action status would not be appropriate.

Kilpatrick argued there are too many inconsistencies between corrections workers. As an example, he pointed to testimony in which one of the workers who’s suing said it can take her 30 minutes to get to her assigned post at the start of her shift, while another worker at a different facility said he can be there in a minute.

“There are many differences among the guards,” Kilpatrick told justices. “They get their keys at different points along the way. They talk to someone at different points along the way. And those are all different types of activities.”

But attorney Tim Burns, who’s representing the workers, said employees deserve to be paid for pre- and post-shift tasks because those duties are essential to their work.

He noted that once guards arrive at a prison, they have to be ready to respond to an emergency even if it’s before they officially clock in.

“This what I call the vigilance argument,” Burns said Friday. “Because it’s a prison from the time you enter the security envelope until the time you leave. That should be compensable work. It’s integral and indispensable.”