In recording working time under the Act, insubstantial or
insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which
cannot as a practical administrative matter be precisely recorded for
payroll purposes, may be disregarded. The courts have held that such
trifles are de minimis. (Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S.
680 (1946)) This rule applies only where there are uncertain and
indefinite periods of time involved of a few seconds or minutes
duration, and where the failure to count such time is due to
considerations justified by industrial realities. An employer may not
arbitrarily fail to count as hours worked any part, however small, of
the employee's fixed or regular working time or practically
ascertainable period of time he is regularly required to spend on duties
assigned to him. See Glenn L. Martin Nebraska Co. v. Culkin, 197 F. 2d
981, 987 (C.A. 8, 1952), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 866 (1952), rehearing
denied, 344 U.S. 888 (1952), holding that working time amounting to $1
of additional compensation a week is ``not a trivial matter to a
workingman,'' and was not de minimis; Addison v. Huron Stevedoring
Corp., 204 F. 2d 88, 95 (C.A. 2, 1953), cert. denied 346 U.S. 877,
holding that ``To disregard workweeks for which less than a dollar is
due will produce capricious and unfair results.'' Hawkins v. E. I. du
Pont de Nemours & Co., 12 W.H. Cases 448, 27 Labor Cases, para. 69,094
(E.D. Va., 1955), holding that 10 minutes a day is not de minimis.
