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Seyfarth Synopsis: In one of its final rulings of 2025, the Eleventh Circuit in Villarino v. Pacesetter Personnel Services, Inc. affirmed summary judgment in favor of a staffing agency, rejecting minimum wage and compensation claims tied to optional van transportation and pre- and post-shift activities. The court held that deductions for use of employer-provided vans did not violate the FLSA or Florida law because the vans were optional and primarily benefited the employees. The court also applied a clear, textual reading of the Portal-to-Portal Act, finding that time spent commuting to a project site, waiting on an optional employer-provided van, and collecting tools were not compensable. The decision offers welcome clarity for employers, particularly those operating in the Southeast.
In 2020, an individual named Shane Villarino filed a hybrid FLSA collective and Florida Minimum Wage Act (FMWA) class action against his former employer—a staffing agency that assigns temporary workers to client sites across the Southeast. Roughly 300 individuals joined the case, challenging two core practices: (i) wage deductions for using optional, employer-provided transportation, and (ii) exclusion of certain time—such as travel to work sites and tool collection—from compensable hours.
The plaintiffs, all temporary workers, could choose whether, when, and where to accept assignments. On days they chose to work, they reported to a central hub, signed into a portal, and received a ticket with the worksite location, report time, and recommended tools.
To get to the job site, the employees had several options: personal vehicle, public transportation, carpooling with coworkers, or using a company-provided van. Use of the van was entirely optional. If chosen, the agency deducted $3.00 per day ($1.50 each way); those who volunteered to carpool coworkers received $3.00 per passenger.
The plaintiffs raised two primary claims. First, they alleged the deductions for using employer-provided vans brought their wages below the minimum wage, resulting in violations of the FLSA and FMWA. Second, they argued they should be compensated for time spent (i) traveling from the central hub to the worksite; (ii) waiting for the agency's vans to arrive, and (iii) retrieving and returning tools.
The staffing agency moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted. The workers appealed. On December 5, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed for the employer.
On the wage deduction issue, the Eleventh Circuit reiterated a core principle: while employers cannot shift business expenses that drop workers below minimum wage, not all deductions are unlawful. The court explained: "[T]he rule is not that expenses can never be deducted from wages—it is that expenses cannot be shifted to employees when they are for the employer's benefit."
Because the van rides were optional and offered primarily for employees' convenience, the court found the deductions permissible. Employees were responsible for getting to work on time and had multiple options for doing so, none of which were mandated.
The panel also rejected the claim for compensating pre-shift time. The court's analysis of the argument turned heavily on the Portal-to-Portal Act, which amended the FLSA in 1947 to clarify that time spent commuting to and from work, as well as other activities that are preliminary or postliminary to an employee's "principal" work activities, are not compensable. Through the lens of the PTPA, "the fact that workers need to get to their jobs in order to do them is not enough—if mere causal necessity were sufficient to constitute a compensable activity, all commuting would be compensable... And that would make the PTPA a dead letter."
Similar principles governed time spent collecting tools. The tools were generic (hard hats, gloves, vests), not always required, sometimes supplied at the jobsite, and employees could bring their own. Even arriving without tools did not necessarily prevent the employee from working. Under these facts, collecting and returning tools was not an indispensable part of the employees' duties, and thus not compensable.
A similar analysis applied for the employees' claims concerning waiting time. The court explained that workers were not required to wait—they could use alternate transportation—and those who waited could use the time for personal pursuits, such as drinking coffee, reading/watching the news, or taking a nap. Under these circumstances, again, the time was not an integral and indispensable part of the employees' duties.
Takeaways for Employers
The Eleventh Circuit's decision is a win for employers operating in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. It reinforces the viability of optional transportation policies and the continued strength of the PTPA's protections for employers. The court's emphasis on employee choice and benefit is a useful lens for assessing current transportation-related practices and potential future challenges.
That said, the ruling is fact-specific. Seemingly small differences—like whether a tool is required, how workers spend wait time, and what transportation options are made available to employees—can materially impact the analysis and potentially change the outcome.
The ruling provides a useful reminder for employers in a number of areas:
- Keep Written Policies Up to Date. Clear, consistent communication is key. In this case, the agency's ability to prove that van use was entirely optional played a key role in the outcome.
- Train for Consistency. Relatedly, managers should communicate policies in a way that mirrors the written guidance. Misalignment between policy and practice is breeding ground for litigation risk.
- Be Mindful of the PTPA. The decision hinged heavily on the PTPA. While the PTPA is, of course, part of the federal wage-hour analysis, employers should keep in mind that some state wage-hour laws do not recognize or incorporate the PTPA—and the outcome could be different in those states.
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