The U.S. Supreme Court held in December in Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk that federal law does not require employers to pay employees for time they spend waiting to undergo antitheft security screenings in the workplace, but that’s not the end of the issue.

Many states have wage payment laws inconsistent with federal law on the duty to pay for activities “preliminary to or postliminary to” the principal work activity. Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Act, for example, requires employers to pay for “time during which an employee is required by the employer to be on the premises of the employer,” and that presumably would include waiting time for a security check.

So, be careful out there and check your state laws.

Michael Homans is a Labor & Employment attorney and founding partner of HomansPeck LLC. For more employment law updates, including news and links to important information pertaining to legal developments that may affect your business, subscribe to Michael’s blog, or follow him on Twitter @EmployLawUpdate.