Rael v. Q3 Contracting, Inc.

Background

Q3 Contracting employed Richard Rael as a utility locator in and around Denver, Colorado, from March 2023 through July 2023. Q3 Contracting classified him as a non-exempt hourly employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Colorado Wage Collection Act (CWCA).

Rael alleged that Q3 Contracting required utility locators to perform two 15-minute safety inspections of company vehicles each workday—one before traveling to the first assigned worksite and one after traveling home from the last assigned worksite. He also alleged that the company’s “ticket to ticket” policy prevented employees from recording time before arriving at the first worksite or after leaving the last one. According to the complaint, Rael’s commuting time totaled about four to ten hours per week, and the inspections added about two and a half to three hours per week.

Rael further alleged that utility locators regularly performed work during required, unpaid meal breaks. Q3 Contracting did not ask the court to dismiss claims based on meal-break work.

The FLSA claims

The court treated Q3 Contracting’s request as a motion to dismiss for failure to state a legally sufficient claim. At this stage, the court accepted the complaint’s factual allegations as true and asked whether they plausibly supported relief.

The FLSA generally requires overtime pay for compensable work beyond 40 hours per week. The federal Portal-to-Portal Act generally excludes ordinary commuting and activities before or after an employee’s main work activities. Under the “continuous workday rule,” however, commuting between an employee’s first and last principal activities can be compensable if the employee first performs a compensable principal activity.

The court held that the complaint did not plausibly allege that driving was Rael’s principal employment activity or that the vehicle inspections were an integral and indispensable part of his utility-locating work. The court therefore concluded that the inspections were not compensable under the FLSA. Because the inspections did not trigger the continuous workday rule, the related commuting time was also not compensable under the FLSA.

The Colorado claims

The court reached a different result under Colorado law. The CWCA and the applicable Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards order define “time worked” more broadly, including work-related activities performed for an employer’s benefit. The order specifically includes safety screenings and certain other activities performed while an employee is on duty or at a prescribed workplace.

The court held that Rael plausibly alleged that the required vehicle inspections were compensable time worked because they involved safety inspections of company vehicles and were required by Q3 Contracting. The court also held that, under Colorado’s continuous-workday rule, compensable time began with the first required inspection and ended with the last required inspection. Travel occurring after the first inspection and before the last inspection was therefore compensable under the allegations in the complaint.

Disposition

The court granted in part and denied in part Q3 Contracting’s motion for partial dismissal. It granted Q3 Contracting’s request to dismiss the portion of Count I asserting FLSA claims for unpaid overtime and/or regular wages related to the mandatory vehicle inspections and commuting to and from the first and last assigned worksites. It denied Q3 Contracting’s request to dismiss any portion of Counts II and III, which asserted Colorado-law overtime and regular-wage claims. The order did not resolve the meal-break claims because Q3 Contracting did not seek their dismissal.