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W. Willard WIRTZ, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Appellant, v. G & W PACKING COMPANY and T. L. Weeks, Appellees

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit1963-12-04No. No. 8999
324 F.2d 802

Summary

Holding. The two slaughter room employees are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act because they regularly performed work directly related to interstate commerce, even though their work represented a small percentage of the company's total business and the company did not itself ship the goods across state lines. The case is modified and remanded for the trial court to determine whether to issue an injunction based on the defendants' compliance with the Act as interpreted.

The Secretary of Labor sued a South Carolina meat packing company and its president for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act affecting twelve employees. The trial court ruled that none of the employees were covered by the Act and declined to issue an injunction. The Secretary appealed solely regarding two slaughter room workers whose duties included processing hogs and cattle, with their output (hides and offal) being regularly shipped out of state by the company's purchasers.

The appellate court determined that the two slaughter room employees were covered by the Act because they performed substantial work directly related to interstate commerce. Although hides and offal represented only 2% of the company's sales, the regular and predictable nature of their interstate shipment—with the company knowing that buyers would transport these items across state lines—was sufficient to establish coverage under federal labor law. The court emphasized that the small percentage of interstate business was immaterial to the coverage analysis.

Regarding the requested injunction, the court found that the company's president had invited the lawsuit to clarify which employees were covered and promised full compliance with the Act once the court determined its applicability. Given the absence of willful violation and the legitimate dispute over coverage, the court declined to mandate an injunction but remanded for the trial judge to consider issuing one if the defendants failed to comply promptly with this decision.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether employees are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act based on regular, substantial work related to goods destined for interstate commerce
  • Whether the proportion of interstate commerce to total business affects coverage under the Act
  • Whether knowledge that purchasers will transport goods interstate, rather than direct shipment by the employer, satisfies the interstate commerce requirement
  • Whether an injunction should issue when the employer disputes coverage in good faith and promises compliance

Procedural posture

The Secretary of Labor appealed the trial court's decision dismissing the action, appealing only as to two slaughter room employees out of twelve employees named in the complaint.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

THOMSEN, District Judge.

This action was filed by the Secretary of Labor to enjoin a South Carolina packing company (G & W) and its president (Weeks) from alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act with respect to twelve of its employees, two of whom worked in the slaughter room and the others in the meat cutting, boning and packing operations. The district judge held that none of the employees was covered by the Act, and that even if any were covered, the circumstances did not call for the issuance of an injunction. The Secretary has appealed from the decision only insofar as it relates to the two employees in the slaughter room.

The duties of those two employees consisted of slaughtering hogs and cattle, removing the hides and offal from the slaughtered cattle, salting the hides, packing the offal into barrels and moving the cai-casses to the cooling rooms. It does not appear that any part of the hogs was ever shipped outside South Carolina, but the hides of the cattle were purchased by one Nat Baron, who shipped them to out-of-state tanneries, and the offal was purchased by Carolina Processing Co., which sent its truck to pick up and transport the offal to its plant in Gastonia, North Carolina. The sales of hides and offal amounted to 2% of G & W’s business.

The evidence shows that the-time spent each week by the two slaughter room employees on work relating to the interstate aspects of G & W’s business was substantial. The sales and shipments of hides and offal were not sporadic and occasional, but a regular part of the business. It is immaterial that those items represented only a small portion of G & W’s total sales. Mabee v. White Plains Pub. Co., 327 U.S. 178, 66 S.Ct. 511, 90 L.Ed. 607; Crook v. Bryant, 4 Cir., 265 F.2d 541; Walling v. Peoples Packing Co., 10 Cir., 132 F.2d 236, cert. den. 318 U.S. 774, 63 S.Ct. 831, 87 L.Ed. 1144; Tilbury v. Rogers, W.D.La., 123 F.Supp. 109, aff’d sub nom. Tilbury v. Mitchell, 5 Cir., 220 F.2d 757, cert. den. 350 U.S. 839, 76 S.Ct. 77, 100 L.Ed. 748. Nor is it material that the hides were not shipped out of the State by G & W, but were processed in the same State by its customer (Baron) and then shipped in interstate commerce, if defendants knew or had reason to expect that this would occur. Bracey v. Luray, 4 Cir., 138 F.2d 8. Defendants certainly knew not later than the time of the trial that the hides were being shipped by Baron in interstate commerce, and knew at all times that the offal was being carried directly from the G & W plant into North Carolina. It follows that the two slaughter room employees are covered by the Act.

It does not follow that an injunction should have been granted. The investigator had told representatives of G & W that all but one of its seventeen employees were covered. The district court held that none was covered, and the Secretary has appealed only as to two of the twelve. The Secretary’s argument that “this is not a case in which the applica tion of the Act was a doubtful question of law” is scarcely warranted. The defendant Weeks invited this action to determine which if any of the employees were covered, and stated that defendants would comply fully with the Act if and to the extent that the Court found the Act applicable.

“The purpose of an injunction in a case of this kind is to prevent future violations in the public interest, not to punish for past transgressions.” Mitchell v. Chambers Const. Co., 10 Cir., 214 F.2d 515, 517. See also Tobin v. Alma Mills, 4 Cir., 192 F.2d 133, 136. We will not direct the district court to issue an injunction, but will remand the case, so that the district judge may issue an injunction if defendants do not promptly comply with the Act as construed in this opinion.

Modified and remanded.

. Act of June 25, 1938, c. 676, 52 Stat. 1060, as amended by tbe Pair Labor Standards Amendments of 1949, c. 736, 63 Stat. 910, 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq. The Amendments of 1961 are not pertinent. Tbe complaint charges violation of sections 6, 7, 11(c), 15(a) (1), 15(a) (2), 15(a) (4) and 15(a) (5) of the Act.