Anti-Strikebreaker Law (Byrnes Act)

Act of June 24, 1936, as amended, US. Code 1952, Title 18, Section 1231

The Anti-Strikebreaker Law makes it a felony to transport in interstate commerce any person employed for the purpose of interfering by force or threats with

a. Peaceful picketing by employees during any labor dispute affecting wages, hours, or working conditions; or

b. Exercise of employee rights of self-organization or collective bargaining.

The act applies to persons who willfully transport others or cause others to be transported, and to persons knowingly transported for these purposes. It does not apply to common carriers.

The U.S. Department of Justice is charged with prosecuting violators, who are subject to a maximum fine of $5,000, imprisonment up to 2 years, or both.

Anti-Racketeering Law (Hobbs Act)

Act of June 18, 1934, as amended, U.S. Code 1952, Title 18, Section 1951

The Anti-Racketeering Law makes it a felony to obstruct, delay, or affect commerce, or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion.

The act also makes it a felony to act in concert with others to do anything in violation of the above, or to participate in any attempt at such violation, or to commit or threaten physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of any plan to commit such violation. The provisions of the Anti-Injunction Act, Railway Labor Act, and National Labor Relations Act are specifically preserved.

The U.S. Department of Justice is charged with prosecuting violators, who are subject to a maximum fine of $10,000, imprisonment for a maximum of 20 years, or both.

Unlawful Practices in Radio Broadcasting (Lea Act)

Act of April 16, 1946, U.S. Code 1952, Title 47, Section 506

This act prohibits certain types of coercive labor practices in the radio industry. These practices usually consist of attempts to compel a radio station to employ more persons than are needed or to restrict the use of recorded or other types of programs. The act makes it a criminal offense for any person to use or threaten to use force, violence, intimidation, duress, or other means to compel any radio station to employ or agree to employ more employees than are needed, or to make any extra payment in place of hiring additional employees.

It is also made unlawful to use similar pressures to compel a radio station to pay or agree to pay more than once for services performed or to pay for services which were not performed, or to refrain from broadcasting noncompensated, noncommercial, educational and cultural programs or programs of foreign origin. In addition, the act prohibits similar pressure upon any person to exact payment for using recordings, transcriptions, reproductions, or other materials

used for broadcasting, to restrict the manufacture and use of recordings and transcriptions, or to exact payment for using transcription of programs previously broadcast and paid for.

The U.S. Department of Justice is charged with prosecuting violators who are subject to a maximum fine of $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both.

II. WAGES, HOURS AND WORKING CONDITIONS

Fair Labor Standards Act (Wage and Hour Law)

Act of June 25, 1938, as amended. U.S. Code 1958, Title 29, sections 201 et seq., as amended by Public Law 87-30, 87th Congress, First Session, Public Law 88-38, 88th Congress, First Session and Public Law 89-601, 89th Congress, Second Session, and as affected by the "Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947", U.S. Code 1958, Title 29, Sections 251-262, and Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1950 (15 F.R. 3174; 64 Stat. 1213)

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, establishes minimum wage, maximum hours, overtime pay, equal pay, and child labor standards for covered employment, unless a specific exemption applies.

Effective February 1, 1967, the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1966 extended the act's coverage to more workers and increased the minimum wage for employment already subject to the law. Before the amendments, the act applied, as it still applies, to employees individually engaged in interstate or foreign commerce or in the production of goods for such commerce, and to employees in certain large enterprises (referred to herein as "previously covered" employment, discussed below).

The 1966 amendments' extension of coverage was achieved through the broadening of the definition of a covered enterprise. Also, some exemptions were revised or eliminated.

Among other changes, more retail and service enterprises were brought under the act. For the first time, the law's standards were extended, in whole or in part, to employees in certain hotels, motels, and restaurants, in hospitals and nursing homes, and in schools. Certain farmworkers were made subject to the minimum wage requirements. ("Newly covered" employment is discussed below.)

The minimum wage and overtime standards for "newly covered" employment differ, for the limited periods prescribed in the law, from the corresponding standards which apply to work subject to the act. before February 1, 1967.

BASIC WAGE AND HOUR STANDARDS

Unless specifically exempt, employees engaged in previously covered employment must be paid at least as follows:

Minimum wage.-$1.40 an hour, beginning February 1, 1967; $1.60 an hour, beginning February 1, 1968.

Overtime. One and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek.

WAGE AND HOUR STANDARDS FOR NEWLY COVERED EMPLOYMENT

Unless specifically exempt, employees engaged in work made subject to the act by the 1966 amendments must be paid at least as follows:

Minimum wage for non-farm work. $1.00 an hour, beginning February 1, 1967; $1.15 an hour, beginning February 1, 1968; $1.30 an hour, beginning February 1, 1969; $1.45 an hour, beginning February 1, 1970; $1.60 an hour beginning February 1, 1971. Overtime pay for non-farm work.-One and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay is required for all hours worked over the following: 44 hours in a workweek, beginning February 1, 1967; 42 hours in a workweek, beginning February 1, 1968; 40 hours in a work week, beginning February 1, 1969.

Employees of nursing homes, rest homes, and bowling alleys must receive 12 times their regular rates for hours over 48 in any workweek.

A special provision permits hospitals to adopt a 14-day period in lieu of the usual 7-day workweek, provided at least time and one-half the employee's regular rate is paid for hours in excess of 8 in any workday and in excess of 80 in the 14-day period.

Minimum wage for farm work.-$1.00 an hour, beginning February 1, 1967; $1.15 an hour, beginning February 1, 1968; $1.30 an hour, beginning February 1, 1969.

The overtime provisions do NOT apply to farm work.

PREVIOUSLY COVERED EMPLOYMENT

Employees covered prior to the 1966 amendments remain covered under the amended act. They include (a) employees individually engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, (b) employees individually engaged in the production of goods for interstate or foreign commerce, and (c) all employees in certain large enterprises.

(a) Employees engaged in interestate or foreign commerce: These include workers in the telephone, telegraph, radio, television, and transportation industries; those who build, maintain and repair highways, railroads, and airfields, or service vehicles or equipment used in interstate commerce; employees in distributing industries, such as wholesaling, who handle goods moving in interstate commerce as well as workers who order, receive or keep records of such goods; clerical and other workers who regularly use the mails, telephone or telegraph for interstate communication; employees of businesses such as banks, insurance companies, and advertising agencies, that regularly utilize the channels of interstate commerce in the course of operations; and employees who regularly travel across State lines while working.

(b) Employees engaged in the production of goods for interstate or foreign commerce: Included are employees who work in manufacturing, processing, and distributing establishments, and in mines, oilfields, and quarries that produce goods for interstate or foreign commerce. This means everyone, including office, management, sales, and shipping personnel, and maintenance, custodial, and protective employees, whether they are employed by the producer or an intermediary. Employees may be covered even if their firm does not ship its goods directly in such commerce. The goods may leave the State

through another firm. The workers may produce goods which become a part or ingredient of goods shipped in interstate or foreign commerce by another firm. Also covered are workers who are engaged in a closely related process or occupation directly essential to the production of such goods. Their employers may supply such items as machinery, fuel or utilities to firms for producing goods for, or engaging in, such commerce.

(c) Employees employed in the following enterprises, if—

(1) there are, in the activities of the enterprise, employees engaged in interstate or foreign commerce or in the production of goods for interstate or foreign commerce, including employees handling, selling, or otherwise working on goods that have been moved in or produced for such commerce by any person, and if— (2) such enterprise is one which

(i) has one or more retail or service establishments and an annual gross sales volume of $1 million* or more, and procures at least $250,000 annually of goods for resale that move across State lines, or

(ii) is engaged in the business of construction or reconstruction and has an annual gross volume of $350,000 or more from such business, or

(iii) is a gasoline service establishment which has an annual gross sales volume of $250,000* or more, or

(iv) is engaged in urban or interurban transit operations and has an annual gross sales volume of $1 million* or more,

or

(v) is an establishment of any other such enterprise where the establishment has some employees engaged in interstate or foreign commerce or in the production of goods for such commerce and the enterprise has an annual gross sale volume of $1 million or more.

The act provides that none of the above enterprises will include any establishment which has as its only employees, the owner, his spouse, parents, or children.

NEWLY COVERED EMPLOYMENT AS OF FEBRUARY 1, 1967

The 1966 amendment increased the coverage of the act by including employees of additional enterprises and made the act applicable to other employees by repealing or revising specific exemptions. Employment thus made subject to the minimum wags provisions by these amendments is "newly covered." Thus, for purposes of deciding whether an employee is "newly covered," the act as it read before the 1966 amendments must be considered in the light of the changes made by the 1966 amendments.

(a) Employees employed in the enterprises indicated below are covered on and after February 1, 1967, under the 1966 amendments, if

*Exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level which are separately stated.

(1) there are, in the activities of the enterprise, employees engaged in interstate or foreign commerce or in the production of goods for interstate or foreign commerce, including employees handling, selling, or otherwise working on goods that have been moved in or produced for such commerce by any person, and if— (2) such enterprise is one which

(i) has an annual gross volume of sales made or business done, exclusive of certain excise taxes, of at least $500,000 ($250,000 beginning Feb. 1, 1969), or

(ii) is engaged in the business of construction or reconstruction (regardless of dollar volume), or

(iii) is engaged in laundering, cleaning, or repairing clothing or fabrics (regardless of dollar volume), or

(iv) is engaged in the operation of a hospital (except a Federal Government hospital), nursing home, or school (whether public, private, or nonprofit and regardless of dollar volume).

The act provides that none of the above enterprises will include any establishment which has as its only regular employees, the owner, his spouse, parents or children, or other member of the owner's immediate family.

(b) As the result of the elimination or revision of various exemptions, employees of certain hotels, motels, and restaurants and other retail or service establishments have had their exemption status changed. Also, employees of taxicab companies and of additional transit companies have become subject to the minimum wage.

The minimum wage provisions have been extended to certain farm workers, to employees of country elevators in the "area of production" to cotton ginning employees, and to certain fruit and vegetable transportation employees. The minimum wage and overtime pay exemption for employees handling and processing agricultural products in the "area of production" has been repealed. Overtime pay exemptions applicable to certain other agricultural processing employees have been eliminated or revised. More logging crew employees are now subject to the minimum wage and overtime requirements. The number of hours beyond which overtime pay is required in "seasonal" industries has been reduced.

PREVIOUSLY AND NEWLY COVERED EMPLOYMENT IN THE SAME ENTERPRISE

It is possible for previously covered employees and workers newly covered by the 1966 amendments to be employed in the same enterprise. For example, employees in the central warehouse and central office of a retail chain having an annual gross volume of sales between $500,000 and $1 million were previously covered and must be paid not less than $1.40 an hour, effective February 1, 1967, and $1.60 an hour, effective February 1, 1968, with overtime after 40 hours a week. However, employees of an individual store with an annual dollar volume of at least $250,000 in such a chain are to be paid according to the schedule for newly covered employment shown on pp. 1 and 2, beginning with a