The answer to our September 23 Quick Quiz is, "None of it".

The relevant question under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act gets down to whether Ellen was "engaged to wait" (which is compensable worktime) or was "waiting to be engaged" (which is not). There is not always an obvious answer to whether this kind of time is or is not compensable work under the FLSA. As the U.S. Labor Department puts it, "Whether waiting time is time worked under the [FLSA] depends upon [the] particular circumstances." 29 C.F.R. § 785.14.

The Labor Department says that an employee is often "engaged to wait" even during periods of inactivity when he or she can leave the premises, because these periods of time are typically unpredictable and of short duration and do not permit the person to use the time effectively for his or her own purposes. According to the Labor Department, in these situations, the waiting periods are an integral part of the job so as to be compensable worktime. See, e.g., 29 C.F.R. § 785.15.