29 C.F.R. § 776.16 Employment In "Producing, * * * Or In Any Other Manner Working On" Goods

• Library: Code of Federal Regulations
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through December 31, 2023
• Citation: 29 C.F.R. § 776.16
• Year: 2023

(a)Coverage in general. Employees employed in "producing, manufacturing, mining, handling, or in any other manner working on" goods (as defined in the Act, including parts or ingredients thereof) for interstate or foreign commerce are considered actually engaged in the "production" of such goods, within the meaning of the Act. Such employees have been within the general coverage of the wage and hours provisions since enactment of the Act in 1938, and remain so under the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1949. 59

59H. Mgrs. St., 1949, p 14; Sen. St., 1949 Cong. Rec., p. 15372.

(b)Activities constituting actual "production" under statutory definition. It will be noted that the actual productive work described in this portion of the definition of "produced" includes not only the work involved in making the products of mining, manufacturing, or processing operations, but also includes "handling, transporting, or in any other manner working on" goods. This is so, regardless of whether the goods are to be further processed or are so-called "finished goods." The Supreme Court has stated that this language of the definition brings within the scope of the term "production," as used in the Act, "every step in putting the subject to commerce in a state to enter commerce," including "all steps, whether manufacture or not, which lead to readiness for putting goods into the stream of commerce," and "every kind of incidental operation preparatory to putting goods into the stream of commerce." 60

60Western Union Tel. Co. v. Lenroot,323 U.S. 490. See, to the same effect, Walling v. Friend,156 F. 2d 429 (C.A. 8); Walling v. Commet Carriers, 151 F 2d 107 (C.A. 2); Phillips v. Star Overall Dry Cleaning Laundry Co.,149 F. 2d 416 (C.A. 2); certiorari denied 327 U.S. 780 Walling v. Griffin Cartage Co., 62 F. Supp 396, affirmed in 153 F. 2d 587 (C.A. 6). For examples, see paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section. Employees who are not engaged in the actual production Activities described in section 3(j) of the Act are not engaged in "production" unless their work is "closely related" and "directly essential" to such production. See §§ 776.17-776.19.

However, where employees of a common carrier, by handling or working on goods, accomplish the interstate transit or movement in commerce itself, such handling or working on the goods is not "production." The employees in that event are covered only under the phrase "engaged in commerce." 61

61Western Union Tel. Co. v. Lenroot,323 U.S. 490. For examples, see paragraph (c) of this section.

(c)Physical labor. It is clear from the principles stated in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, that employees in shipping rooms, warehouses, distribution yards...