scope:

Scope and significance of this part.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ¹(hereinafter referred to as the Act), brings within the general coverage of its wage and hours provisions every employee who is ''engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.''² What employees are so engaged must be ascertained in the light of the definitions of ''commerce'', ''goods'', and ''produced'' which are set forth in the Act as amended by the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1949, ³ giving due regard to authoritative interpretations by the courts and to the legislative history of the Act, as amended. Interpretations of the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division with respect to this general coverage are set forth in this part to provide ''a practical guide to employers and employees as to how the office representing the public interest in its enforcement will seek to apply it.'' ⁴ These interpretations with respect to the general coverage of the wage and hours provisions of the Act, indicate the construction of the law which the Administrator believes to be correct and which will guide him in the performance of his administrative duties under the Act unless and until he is otherwise directed by authoritative decisions of the courts or concludes, upon reexamination of an interpretation, that it is incorrect.

Under the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947, ⁵interpretations of the Administrator may, under certain circumstances, be controlling in determining the rights and liabilities of employers and employees. The interpretations contained in this bulletin are interpretations on which reliance may be placed as provided in section 10 of the Portal-to-Portal Act, so long as they remain effective and are not modified, amended, rescinded, or determined by judicial authority to be incorrect. However, the omission to discuss a particular problem in this part or in interpretations supplementing it should not be taken to indicate the adoption of any position by the Administrator with respect to such problem or to constitute an administrative interpretation or practice or enforcement policy.

¹ Pub. L. 718, 75th Cong., 3d sess. (52 Stat. 1060), as amended by the Act of June 26, 1940 (Pub. Res. No. 88, 76th Cong., 3d sess., 54 Stat. 616); by Reorganization Plan No. 2 (60 Stat. 1095), effective July 16, 1946; by the Portal- to-Portal Act of 1947, approved May 14, 1947 (61 Stat. 84); and by the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1949, approved October 26, 1949 (Pub. L. 393, 81st Cong., 1st sess., 63 Stat. 910); by Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1950 (15 FR 3174), effective May 24, 1950; and by the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1955, approved August 12, 1955 (Pub. L. 381, 84th Cong., 1st sess., C. 867, 69 Stat. 711).

² The requirement of section 6 as to minimum wages is: ''Every employer shall pay to each of his employees who is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce wages at the following rates-'' (not less than $1.00 an hour, except in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to which special provisions apply).

The requirement of section 7 as to maximum hours which an employee may work without receiving extra pay for overtime is: ''no employer shall employ any of his employees who is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce for a workweek longer than forty hours, unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and onehalf times the regular rate at which he is employed.''

³ Pub. L. 393, 81st Cong., 1st sess. (63 Stat. 910). These amendments, effective January 25, 1950, leave the existing law unchanged except as to provisions specifically amended and the addition of certain new provisions. Section 3(b) of the Act, defining ''commerce'', and section 3(j), defining ''produced'', were specifically amended as explained in §§ 776.13 and 776.17(a) herein.

⁴ Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134, 138.

⁵ Pub. L. 49, 80th Cong., 1st sess. (61 Stat. 84), discussed in part 790 of this chapter.