Durkin v. Casa Baldrich, Inc.

111 F. Supp. 71, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2900
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedMarch 31, 1953
DocketCiv. No. 4653
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 111 F. Supp. 71 (Durkin v. Casa Baldrich, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Durkin v. Casa Baldrich, Inc., 111 F. Supp. 71, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2900 (prd 1953).

Opinion

RUIZ-NAZARIO, District Judge.

I

By judgment of this Court entered on December 24, 1948, in this case, defendant was enjoined and restrained from violating the provisions of section 15(a) (2) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., specifically, from paying less than the rates fixed under Sections 6 and 8(e) of the Act, and from violating the overtime provisions of Section 7 of the Act. Petitioner has moved the Court to punish respondent for contempt, charging that respondent since December 10, 1951 has failed and refused to comply with the terms of the aforesaid judgment.

The evidence adduced at the hearing on said motion for contempt shows that respondent’s modus operandi, location of establishment, printed products and general trade have undergone no substantial change since the injunction was entered in 1948. However, respondent contends that the 1949 amendments have so narrowed coverage that workers producing forms and stationery used in industry producing goods for interstate commerce are not covered, because such occupations are not “closely related” and “directly essential” to production. Respondent operates two printing shops and a stationery store. A substantial portion of the printed goods, such as payrolls, office forms, production records, stationery, shipping records and special forms, is sold to industrial firms in Puerto Rico who are engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. As indicated by the Court in the original case, it is doubtful whether the productive flow of goods in commerce could be maintained without the payrolls, production records, office forms, stationery, shipping records.

Industry as we know it today would grind to a halt without the help of printed forms and records for, without their aid, production would be uneconomic under the conditions of the modern world. Surely no one can seriously suggest that the production of such printed matter is not “closely related” and “directly essential” to the production of goods for commerce.

The summary of the Conference Agreement on the 1949 Amendments, 95 Cong. Record page 14874 states as follows:

“Typical of the classes of employees whose work is closely related and directly essential to production, within the meaning of section 3(j) as amended by the conference agreement, are the following employees performing tasks necessary to effective productive operations of the producer:
“1. Office or white-collar workers. Borden Co. v. Borella, 325 U.S. 679 [65 S.Ct. 1223, 89 L.Ed. 1865]; Roland Electrical Co. v. Walling, 326 U.S. 657 [66 S.Ct. 413, 90 L.Ed. 383]; Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Ass’n v. Phillips, 2 Cir., 158 F.2d 698; Walling v. Friend, 8 Cir., 156 F.2d 429; Hertz [73]*73Drivurself Stations v. U. S., 8 Cir., 150 F.2d 923.”

Certainly the workers engaged in the printing occupations which produce the printed matter with which the white collar workers perform their tasks must be held to be covered.

This is a question as to which no doubt must exist after the latest expression of the Supreme Court on the subject. See: Alstate Construction Company v. Durkin, 73 S.Ct. 565, and Thomas v. Hempt Brothers, 73 S.Ct. 568.

Under said decisions the “closely related” and “directly essential” tests of the 1949 amendment play no role in determining coverage of employees engaged in operations such as those undertaken by respondent’s employees. Neither is it necessary that the goods produced by said employees be actually transported in commerce.

As the record here discloses, the printed matter is produced by defendant’s employees mostly t.o fill orders of customers such as steamship companies, sugar companies, banks, wholesalers, attorneys, airlines, railroads, commission merchants and other businesses, which are actuálly engaged in commerce and the employees of which are engaged in commerce.

The “closely related” and “directly essential” tests only apply in connection with the production of goods to be further used by employees engaged in the production of goods for commerce and not where the goods produced are to be further used by employees engaged in commerce.

The goods produced by respondent’s employees are mostly used or consumed by employees who, by serving individuals or concerns which are in commerce, are themselves engaged in commerce and, therefore, under the above holdings of the Supreme Court, said employees of respondent are engaged in the production of goods for commerce.

In addition, the evidence shows a certain amount of production for customers in the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic. These cases of course constitute direct production for interstate commerce, and respondent, although a veteran of the original trial of this case, made no effort to segregate his workers in connection with its interstate and intrastate production.

Thus, the respondent still falls within the coverage of the Act, as amended.

II

Respondent, who unsuccessfully contended in the original proceeding that its employees are employed in a local retail establishment, again asserts that it is now exempt as such local retail establishment, under the 1949 amendments to Section 13 (a) (2) of the Act. 29 U.S.C.A. § 213(a) (2).

The applicable exemption provisions of the Act now read as follows:

“(a) The provisions of sections 6 and 7'of this title shall not apply with respect to (1) * * *; or (2) any employee employed by any retail or service establishment, more than 50 per centum of which establishment’s annual dollar volume of sales of goods or services is made within the State in which the establishment is located. A ‘retail or service establishment’ shall mean an establishment 75 per centum of whose annual dollar volume of sales of goods or services (or of both) is not for resale and is recognized as retail sales or services in the particular industry; or (3) * * * or (4) any employee employed by an establishment which qualifies as an exempt retail establishment under clause (2) of this subsection and is recognized as a retail establishment in the particular industry notwithstanding that such establishment makes or processes at the retail establishment the goods that it sells: Provided, That more than 85 per cent-um of such establishment’s annual dollar volume of sales of goods so made or processed is made within the State in which the establishment is located; or * *

Although it seems clear from the language thereof that the above provision does not apply to manufacturing activities but rather to the sale of goods and services, [74]*74the position of petitioner is strengthened by the Statement in 95 Cong. Rec. 14942, that

“The provisions of section 13(a) (4) do not make retail establishments of manufacturing establishments merely because such establishments have, or create, a retail outlet in the same building. The section does not permit the tail to wag the dog, and the nature of the establishment is still controlling.

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Bluebook (online)
111 F. Supp. 71, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2900, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/durkin-v-casa-baldrich-inc-prd-1953.