Cal. Drive-In Restaurant Assn. v. Clark

140 P.2d 657, 22 Cal. 2d 287, 147 A.L.R. 1028, 1943 Cal. LEXIS 185
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 16, 1943
DocketL. A. 18093
StatusPublished
Cited by171 cases

This text of 140 P.2d 657 (Cal. Drive-In Restaurant Assn. v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cal. Drive-In Restaurant Assn. v. Clark, 140 P.2d 657, 22 Cal. 2d 287, 147 A.L.R. 1028, 1943 Cal. LEXIS 185 (Cal. 1943).

Opinion

CARTER, J.

Plaintiffs, operators of drive-in restaurants, successfully challenged in the superior court the validity of a regulation of the Industrial Welfare Commission, designated Order 12-A. Defendants, the Chief of the Division of Industrial Welfare of the Department of Industrial Relations and the members of the Industrial Welfare Commission of the Division of Industrial Welfare of the Department of Industrial Relations, appeal from the judgment entered for plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs are independent owners of establishments serving food and beverages. Their patronage consists chiefly of motorists who are served while remaining in their vehicles, however, service may be obtained in the owner’s restaurant buildings. Most of the employees are girls and women commonly referred to as “car hops.” The employment arrangement contemplates that the tips received by the employees shall constitute their wages, except that the employers make up the difference if the tips received fall below the minimum wage for minors and adult females fixed by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Plaintiffs posted in their business establishments, the notices required by a statute of 1929, hereinafter set forth. In 1940, plaintiffs were advised by the Chief of the Division of Industrial Welfare that their employment arrangement violated Order 12-A, in that they could not consider the tips received by the minor and female adult employees in computing and paying the minimum wage, and that they would be required to comply with said order.

Order 12-A became effective on June 8, 1923. In section 1 it fixed a minimum wage of $16 per week to be paid to all female adult or minor employees in restaurants or other places where food and drinks were .sold. Section 2 fixed the maximum amount the employer could deduct from the minimum wage for meals and lodging furnished the employee. Section 3, here in question, reads: “No employer may include tips or gratuities received by employees designated in sec *291 tion 1 hereof as part of the legal minimum wages fixed by said section of this Order.” The remaining nine sections deal with hours of labor, working conditions, the employer’s duty to keep records, and the like.

In 1929 (Stats. 1929, p. 1971), a statute was passed by the Legislature, now appearing in sections 350-356 of the Labor Code. Section 351 of the Labor Code reads:

“Every employer or agent who collects, takes, or receives any gratuity or a part thereof, paid, given to, or left for an employee by a patron, or who deducts any amount from wages due an employee on account of such gratuity, or who requires an employee to credit the amount, or any part thereof, of such gratuity against and as a part of the wages due the employee from the employer, shall keep posted in a conspicuous place at the location where his business is carried on, in a place where it can easily be seen by the patrons thereof, a notice, in lettering or printing of not less than 48-point black-face type, to the following effect:

“(a) If not shared by the employees, that any gratuities paid, given to, or left for employees by patrons go to and belong to the business or employer and are not shared by the employees thereof.
“(b) If shared by the employees, the extent to which gratuities are shared between employer and employees.” Section 352 specifies that the notice shall also state the extent to which employees are required to accept gratuities in lieu of wages or permit them to be credited against their wages. The provisions apply to all businesses having one or more persons in service. A gratuity “includes any tip, gratuity, money, or part thereof, which has been paid or given to or left for an employee by a patron of a business over and above the actual amount due such business for services rendered or for goods, food, drink, or articles sold or served to such patron.”

A penalty is imposed for violation of the act, and it is declared that:

“The Legislature expressly declares that the purpose of this article is to prevent fraud upon the public in connection with the practice of tipping and declares that this article is passed for a public reason and cannot be contravened by a private agreement. As a part of the social public policy *292 of this State, this article is binding upon all departments of the State.” (Lab. Code, sec. 356.)

Whether the 1929 statute impliedly annulled section. 3 of said Order 12-A must be determined in the light of the appropriate rules of statutory construction. Generally, the same rules of construction and interpretation which apply to statutes govern the construction and interpretation of rules and regulations of administrative agencies. (Miller v. United States, 294 U.S. 435 [55 St.Ct. 440, 79 L.Ed. 977].) With reference to implied repeals of statutes this court stated in Penziner v. West American Finance Co., 10 Cal.2d 160, 176 [74 P.2d 252]:

“The presumption is against repeals by implication, especially where the prior act has been generally understood and acted upon. To overcome the presumption the two acts must be irreconcilable, clearly repugnant, and so inconsistent that the two cannot have concurrent operation. The courts are bound, if possible, to maintain the integrity of both statutes if the two may stand together. Where a modification will suffice, a repeal will not be presumed.” (See 23 Cal.Jur. 694, et seq.) The purpose and object sought to be accomplished by legislation is an important factor in determining the legislative intent. (San Francisco v. San Mateo County, 17 Cal.2d 814 [112 P.2d 595].)

Applying those rules to the instant case we find no repugnancy. The statute of 1929 and section 3 of Order 12-A rather than being irreconcilable are entirely harmonious. The basic policy underlying the order is the regulation of wages, hours and working conditions for minors and adult female employees in eating establishments. The subject of tipping is embraced only incidentally in the furtherance of that general purpose. Broadly, it was designed to deal with the industrial welfare of such employees, and the relation of their welfare to the general public interest. On the other hand the statute is concerned exclusively with tipping in respect to its relation to the public which patronizes not only restaurant establishments but many other businesses. The Legislature expressly stated that its purpose is “to prevent fraud upon the public,” a policy underlying no part of the order. Section 3 of the order states that tips received by the designated employees may not be included in the minimum wage therein fixed. If it be conceded that the effect *293 of said section is to prohibit the deduction of tips from the employees’ wages, and that the statute impliedly authorizes such deduction as asserted by plaintiffs, such prohibition should be strictly limited, and said section would not be violated in instances where the employer retained the entire amount of all tips received

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140 P.2d 657, 22 Cal. 2d 287, 147 A.L.R. 1028, 1943 Cal. LEXIS 185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cal-drive-in-restaurant-assn-v-clark-cal-1943.