Should your employer pay you for changing clothes at work?

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There are plenty of jobs where you’re required to be present before your shift begins, but usually, you don’t get paid for that extra time. As common as it may be, it’s still somewhat odd. That’s what a Dutch call center employee thought when he took his employer to court. He wanted to be paid for the ten minutes he was required to be on-site before each shift. The judge agreed, ruling that the man was entitled to €1600 in back pay.

But what about changing clothes at work? Should your employer be paying you for that? I looked into it…

Promotional work and clothing stores

Reading about the court ruling reminded me of the many jobs I worked to pay for my studies. At some companies, I was allowed to change into work attire on the clock. For example, when I worked for a few weeks as a street subscription sales rep for a newspaper, we had to wear special jackets, and sometimes shirts, which we put on during work hours.

When I worked at the clothing brand Didi, it was a different story. We had to be present at least fifteen minutes in advance (unpaid). During that time, we had to choose an outfit from the store, put it on, and prepare the store for opening. Because of the specific requirements, this was not always straightforward. You always had to wear the latest collection, and repeating outfit combinations too often was not allowed. Since not all sizes were always in stock, you couldn’t decide on an outfit in advance. Then there was also the challenge of wearing clothes that weren’t always comfortable or flattering. Once your outfit was ready, you were encouraged to add accessories from the store to complete the look.

I often found it hard to get this done in fifteen minutes, and my manager advised me to arrive even earlier. When I had to open the store, she would check later what time I’d disarmed the alarm to see if I’d come in early enough. The tricky part was that colleagues who bought the store’s clothing themselves didn’t have this problem; they could get dressed at home and didn’t need to change at work. But as a student, I simply couldn’t afford to buy a new outfit every time a collection launched.

Changing clothes eight times a day

During the first two years of my Public Administration degree, I worked summer shifts at a pharmaceutical factory. Due to strict hygiene requirements, we had to change from head to toe before entering the workspace. Before starting each shift, we’d put on a shirt, pants, hairnet, and clogs in the changing room. And it didn’t end there. During the day, we had two short breaks of fifteen minutes each, one before and one after lunch. Lunch itself was half an hour. For every break, you had to change back into your regular clothes and then redress in work attire afterward. This time was deducted from your unpaid break.

In total, we had to change eight times a day, all unpaid. Not that I was complaining; I found the work exhausting, but it paid well.

Should your employer pay you for changing clothes at work?

Now, back to the main question of this article: should your employer pay you for changing clothes at work? I discussed this with Suzanne Meijers, an employment lawyer and author of Geen gedoe met personeel (No Nonsense with Staff).

“If I consider the recent ruling, the main question is whether you need to be present earlier to do preparatory work. Are these activities necessary to perform the actual agreed-upon work? If so, then you are already considered to be working.”

“Your example of changing clothes at the pharmaceutical factory also falls under this, in my view. This is related to hygiene and house rules. But if you’re working in hospitality and put on your formal attire either at home or at the restaurant, I wouldn’t consider it the same. However, if Didi required you to do preparatory activities to change clothes and to open the store, then (in principle) that could count as working time. You were required to be present, after all.”

Conclusion

It’s clear that employers can’t always expect you to arrive early without compensation. Once you start working, you should be paid. That only seems logical to me, and this ruling makes it just a bit clearer.

Best regards,
Aileen