In the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

August Term 2024 Argued: September 10, 2024 Decided: March 17, 2025

No. 23-1337

JAVIER DEL RIO, COLIN MEUNIER, AND AARON DELAROCHE, ON BEHALF OF THEMSELVES AND OTHER SIMILARLY SITUATED EMPLOYEES, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. AMAZON.COM.DEDC, LLC, AMAZON.COM, INC., AMAZON.COM SERVICES, LLC, Defendants-Appellees,

AMAZON.COM SERVICES, INC., Defendant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

Before: LIVINGSTON, Chief Judge, PÉREZ, and NATHAN, Circuit Judges.

On appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Dooley, J.). Employees filed a complaint seeking payment of straight-time and overtime wages under Connecticut’s wage laws and regulations for time spent undergoing mandatory security screenings at their place of employment after clocking out. The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut granted summary judgment for the employers and dismissed the employees’ complaint. The employees appealed and subsequently moved to certify a question to the Connecticut Supreme Court.

We determine nostra sponte that certification to the Connecticut Supreme Court is warranted on the question of whether Connecticut’s wage laws and regulations require employees to be compensated for the time spent going through mandatory security screenings at their place of employment. Additionally, if time spent going through mandatory security screenings is compensable, then we ask the Connecticut Supreme Court to address whether a de minimis exception applies.

Questions certified. Appellants’ motion to certify is dismissed as moot.

RICHARD A. HAYBER, Hayber, McKenna & Dinsmore, LLC, Hartford, CT, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

SAMANTHA L. BROOKS, Seyfarth Shaw LLP (Daniel Benjamin Klein, Alison H. Silveira, Michael E. Steinberg, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Boston, MA, on the brief), Washington, DC, for Defendants-Appellees.

MYRNA PÉREZ, Circuit Judge:

The matter before this Court presents an issue of unresolved Connecticut law: whether under Connecticut’s wage laws and regulations, employees must be compensated for the time spent going through mandatory security screenings at their place of employment. We determine that this is a question that the

2 Connecticut Supreme Court should be given the opportunity to resolve in the first instance. If the Connecticut Supreme Court chooses to resolve this question in the affirmative, then we ask that it also address a secondary question: whether a de minimis exception applies and if so, what amount of time is considered de minimis.

Accordingly, we reserve decision and certify these questions to the Connecticut Supreme Court.

I. Background

Javier Del Rio, Colin Meunier, and Aaron Delaroche are former employees of Amazon.com Services LLC 1 (“Amazon”). Amazon is the owner and operator of warehouse facilities throughout Connecticut. It is in these warehouse facilities where Amazon merchandise is stored for later use in fulfilling customer orders.

Relevant to this matter are Amazon’s facilitie