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Code of Federal Regulations Pertaining to U.S. Department of Labor |
| Labor |
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| Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor |
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| Interpretative Bulletin on the General Coverage of the Wage and Hours Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 |
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| General |
29 CFR 776.15 - ``Production.''
- Section Number: 776.15
- Section Name: ``Production.''
(a) The statutory provisions. The activities constituting
``production'' within the meaning of the phrase ``engaged in * * *
production of goods for commerce'' are defined in the Act 52
as follows:
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52 Act, section 3(j). This definition is also applicable
in determining coverage of the child labor provisions of the Act. See
part 4 of this title.
Produced means produced, manufactured, mined, handled, or in any
other manner worked on in any State; and for the purposes of this Act an
employee shall be deemed to have been engaged in the production of goods
if such employee was employed in producing, manufacturing, mining,
handling, transporting, or in any other manner working on such goods, or
in any closely related process or occupation directly essential to the
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production thereof, in any State.
The Act bars from interstate commerce ``any'' goods in the production of
which ``any'' employee was employed in violation of the minimum-wage or
overtime-pay provisions,53 and provides that in determining,
for purposes of this provision, whether an employee was employed in the
production of such goods:
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53 Act, section 15(a)(1). The only exceptions are stated
in the section itself, which provides that ``it shall be unlawful for
any person--(1) to transport, offer for transportation, ship, deliver,
or sell in commerce, or to ship, deliver, or sell with knowledge that
shipment or delivery or sale thereof in commerce is intended, any goods
in the production of which any employee was employed in violation of
section 6 or section 7, or in violation of any regulation or order of
the Administrator issued under section 14; except that no provision of
this Act shall impose any liability upon any common carrier for the
transportation in commerce in the regular course of its business of any
goods not produced by such common carrier, and no provision of this Act
shall excuse any common carrier from its obligation to accept any goods
for transportation; and except that any such transportation, offer,
shipment, delivery, or sale of such goods by a purchaser who acquired
them in good faith in reliance on written assurance from the producer
that the goods were produced in compliance with the requirements of the
Act, and who acquired such goods for value without notice of any such
violation, shall not be deemed unlawful;''
* * * proof that any employee was employed in any place of employment
where goods shipped or sold in commerce were produced, within ninety
days prior to the removal of the goods from such place of employment,
shall be prima facie evidence that such employee was engaged in the
production of such goods.54
54 Act, sec. 15(b).
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(b) General scope of ``production'' coverage. The statutory
provisions quoted in paragraph (a) of this section, show that for
purposes of the Act, wherever goods are being produced for interstate or
foreign commerce, the employees who are covered as ``engaged in the
production'' of such goods, include, in
general, all those whose work may fairly be said to be a part of their
employer's production of such goods,55 and include those
whose work is closely related and directly essential thereto,56
whether employed by the same or a different employee. (See Secs. 776.17
to 776.19.) Typically, but not exclusively, this includes that large
group of employees engaged in mines, oil fields, quarries, and
manufacturing, processing, or distributing plants where goods are
produced for commerce. The employees covered as engaged in
``production'' are not limited, however, to those engaged in actual
physical work on the product itself or to those in the factories, mines,
warehouses, or other place of employment where goods intended for
commerce are being produced. If the requisite relationship to production
of such goods is present, an employee is covered, regardless of whether
his work brings him into actual contact with such goods or into the
establishments where they are produced, and even though his employer may
be someone other than the producer of the goods for commerce.57
As explained more fully in the sections following, the Act's
``production'' coverage embraces many employees who serve productive
enterprises in capacities which do not involve working directly on goods
produced but which are nevertheless closely related and directly
essential to successful operations in producing goods for interstate or
foreign commerce. And as a general rule, in conformity with the
provisions of the Act quoted in paragraph (a) of this section, an
employee will be considered to be within the general coverage of the
wage and hours provisions if he is working in a place of employment
where goods sold or shipped in interstate commerce or foreign commerce
are being produced, unless the employer maintains the burden of
establishing that the employee's functions are so definitely segregated
from such production that they should not be regarded as closely related
and directly essential thereto.58
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55 Borden Co. v. Borella, 325 U.S. 679; Armour & Co. v.
Wantock, 323 U.S. 126. See also paragraph (c) of this section.
56 Kirschbaum v. Walling, 316 U.S. 517; Roland Electrical
Co. v. Walling, 326 U.S. 657; H. Mgrs. St., 1949, p. 14; Sen. St. 1949
Cong. Rec. p. 15372.
57 Borden Co. v. Borella, 325 U.S. 679; Roland Electrical
Co. v. Walling. 326 U.S. 657; Kirschbaum v. Walling, 316 U.S. 517;
Walton v. Southern Package Corp. 320 U.S. 540.
58 Guess v. Montague, 140 F. 2d 500 (C.A. 4). Cf. Armour
& Co. v. Wantock, 323 U.S. 126.
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