Page:United States Reports 546.pdf/238

 546US1

Unit: $$U5

[08-22-08 13:38:19] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 546 U. S. 21 (2005)

27

Opinion of the Court

With respect to “future claims,” the Act preserved potential liability for working time not made compensable by contract or custom but narrowed the coverage of the FLSA by ex­ cepting two activities that had been treated as compensable under our cases: walking on the employer’s premises to and from the actual place of performance of the principal activity of the employee, and activities that are “preliminary or post­ liminary” to that principal activity. Speciﬁcally, Part III of the Portal-to-Portal Act, entitled “future claims,” provides in relevant part: “Sec. 4. Relief from Certain Future Claims Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. . . — “(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) [which cov­ ers work compensable by contract or custom], no em­ ployer shall be subject to any liability or punishment under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended,. . . on account of the failure of such employer to pay an employee minimum wages, or to pay an em­ ployee overtime compensation, for or on account of any of the following activities of such employee engaged in on or after the date of the enactment of this Act— “(1) walking, riding, or traveling to and from the ac­ tual place of performance of the principal activity or activities which such employee is employed to perform, and “(2) activities which are preliminary to or postlimi­ nary to said principal activity or activities, “(1) an express provision of a written or nonwritten contract in effect, at the time of such activity, between such employee, his agent, or collective-bargaining representative and his employer; or “(2) a custom or practice in effect, at the time of such activity, at the establishment or other place where such employee was employed, covering such activity, not inconsistent with a written or nonwritten contract, in effect at the time of such activity, between such employee, his agent, or collective-bargaining representative and his employer.” 61 Stat. 85 (codi­ ﬁed at 29 U. S. C. § 252(a)).