As labor/employment practitioners know, the Fair Labor Standards Act, governing the payment of minimum wages and overtime, is silent as to the definition of "work." In the Spring 2011 issue of the ABA Journal of Labor and Employment Law, Richard Alfred and Jessica Schauer argue that recent case law and a Department of Labor (DOL) Administrator's Interpretation has potentially opened the floodgate for claims regarding de minimus but arguably "integral and indispensible" activities, such as checking or sending emails, prior to the start of the workday. See Alfred and Schauer,
