You’re not required to be there 5-10 minutes before your shift starts, you’re required to be ready to work at your shift’s scheduled start.

It’s so you can be prepared to work when you clock in. It’s considered time theft if you’re clocked in and you’re not working.

Well, I think the point is more putting on the necessary equipment/clothing for your job. In that context, someone who works in a chemical company for example even if they don’t come into contact directly with the chemicals, will have to wear long sleeves in the factory. But on a summer day like the ones many have been experiencing globally, you can’t expect that person to be wearing long sleeves when they get to work. Same goes for steel toed boots for someone working in a chemical company - can’t wear those outside because that risks contaminating your personal effects. Sure a long sleeve shirt isn’t ppe, but it’s a uniform item that may not be wearable outside and if you have to get the early to put on that uniform item but not clock in until after that is on it kind of sucks because that is part of your work day and that 5 extra minutes is being taken away from sleep, family time, personal time, etc….. point is, your time is valuable. If you are expected to be there prior to getting paid to do a task that is something that is work related and can only be done at work, you probably SHOULD be getting paid. So no, your apron may not be ppe, but it’s something that you are being asked to do AT work but BEFORE you’re on the clock. And it’s barely any time difference but it’s your personal time and you should absolutely have value placed on that time. (Sorry for the rant haha. I swear this was not meant to be rude either.)

The entire venti mocha I spilled on myself today would beg to differ

lol no it isn’t. that’s literally the ENTIRE point of an apron

Whether or not an apron is “protective gear” isn’t the sticking point, it’s whether or not an activity is “integral and indispensable” to the job's “principal activities.”

> However, the court said that waiting time in a queue for protective gear was “two steps removed from principal activities” and is not compensable under FLSA regulations. Additionally, time spent waiting to put on protective gear before leaving at the end of the workday should be paid. Compensable work hours begin at the time the employer asks employees to arrive. If employees are forced to wait at the beginning of their shift because the employer does not yet have protective gear available, employees will be compensated for their waiting time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBP,_Inc._v._Alvarez

You can’t show up an hour earlier than asked and clock in and expect to be compensated (not for this reason, at least), but if you’re required to be on the floor with things you’re not meant to remove from the store, then that’s a work activity. *Waiting* to do those things is not, though. You begin working when you start doing stuff you’re required to do.

I haven’t worked at Starbucks, but I’ve had similar jobs at major companies which had been sued and forced to adopt compliant scheduling policies.

Company policy at the best of those employers was to schedule people to relieve the other person a few minutes after the shift start time. You’d be scheduled to start work at 4, clock in at that time, review any company communications, then be scheduled to go to the sales floor a few minutes later at 4:05 or 4:10 or whatever interval the manager making the schedule opted for.

If you’re *expected* to show up *x* minutes before your shift start time, then your work start time is *x* minutes before your shift start time. If they don’t expect you to do that, but just prefer it, that’s different.

Yepp! I came in one time for my shift in the morning. I forget what time it was but it was extremely busy and they were super slammed. I was 15 mins early. I spent 5 mins doing whatever and then i was standing at the end of the counter on my phone just waiting til it was at least at the 5 minute before mark. But my shift told me to clock in those 10 mins early because they really badly needed another hand on the floor since it was only 2 or 3 of them all together on the floor. So those situations are ok only if the person in charge says its ok. But definitely not allowed otherwise. I kno i was told the same thing for clocking out too. Like u cant clock out more than 5 mins past the end time of ur shift. But the shifts at my store seem to not give a shit about that part because they always make me do tasks that take time when they find out that im about to have to leave. Like today...the shift on duty was doing stuff near me on bar and it was about a minute or 2 before i had to clock out and i was like "yay im about to leave soon" just cuz i kno shes infamous for doing that and she still made me stock cups and lids and milks lol like ok i ended up clocking out 10 minutes later than i was supposed to.

right, i saw someone get written up for clocking in 10 minutes before their shift even though they’ve been coached so many times about it.

Yea i think its like that with a handful of other jobs. And yea if ur asked to clock in early like 10 or 15 mins for any reason, then yea but definitely not just to do that and then take a ton of time putting belongings away

Yea that was my job before starbucks where the supervisor was all like oh u have to clock in 2 or 3 minutes before ur lunch ends so that by the time u come back up to the front, the other person will be able to go to lunch so the breaks wont be pushed back. They were terrible at my old job before starbucks.

But yea ive seen the "in early for coverage" like on days that i was covering somebody elses shift and i was told to just hit "self override" or whatever it says right next to it but definitely not for clockin in too early cuz the manager will catch that. But yea i think most jobs have a thing about clockin in too early. I think being told not to clock in more than 5 mins early is understandable as well!

Legit happened.
I had a CS disappear for 30 minutes because they were talking face to face with a friend. Every time I circled around they were talking. Tried to send them home 15 minutes early and they continued to talk for that whole 15 minutes. I was a little pissed because we were almost an hour behind CS duties (brewing, restock, facing retail, and making things pretty…)

Oh that makes sense, I live in a poopy state.

Starbucks

1. You never originally stated that you're an opener. If someone is coming in, and making their partner wait to get off because they don't want to put their apron on before clocking in, I feel like they are an ass.

2. You should always be wearing your apron while on the clock, unless dealing with trash.

That's ridiculous. Who in the world gets paid for the time it takes them to get dressed for their job? Waiters? Janitors? Auto mechanics? Doctors or engineers or psychologists? No. It doesn't matter what you're being paid- you get paid to work, not to get dressed for work.

(Ok, maybe fashion models and actors get paid to get dressed, but that's because it *is* their job.)

This is… largely inaccurate. Generally speaking in the US you are required to paid for time putting on your uniform when it must be done at work. That goes for things like protective equipment or costuming for shows and the like. Most medical professionals I know are in scrubs on their way to work. I don’t know a lot of cops or security people but those that I do show up to work in uniform. It’s not corporate propaganda to say that most people in a uniform do NOT get paid to put it on. Especially those in retail, but also including those other roles.

Now, that being said, there’s certainly an argument to be made that the existing Starbucks policy that requires you to be wearing your apron before you clock in IS unfair, because we wear our apron for food safety reasons- that goes out the window if we wore it at home and on the bus on the way to work, so we need to put it on at work, and thus should be paid.