Goldberg v. Willmark Service System, Inc.

215 F. Supp. 577, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5101
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedNovember 20, 1961
DocketCiv. No. 5731
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 215 F. Supp. 577 (Goldberg v. Willmark Service System, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goldberg v. Willmark Service System, Inc., 215 F. Supp. 577, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5101 (mnd 1961).

Opinion

NORDBYE, District Judge.

Plaintiff seeks to enjoin the Minneapolis branch of Willmark Service System from paying certain employees of this branch at rates less than those required by the Act. Much of the material evidence has been stipulated. The primary issues presented are (1) whether the defendant’s branch supervisor and shopper employees are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce within the meaning of the Act; (2) whether the Minneapolis branch of Willmark is exempt as a retail or service establishment within the meaning of Section 13(a) (2) of the Act; and (3) whether certain get-ready and waiting time of the Minneapolis supervisor and shopper employees constitutes hours within the meaning of the Act.

The defendant is an institution rendering a “shopping service”, with certain other services identified therewith, throughout the United States and parts of Canada. Its central and executive offices are located in New York City. It has 29 branches located in 23 States and employs some 428 persons, 78 of whom are identified with the New York office and 350 at the various branches. In this proceeding, we are concerned only with the employees known as shoppers and their supervisors, who render shopping investigative services for defendant’s customer establishments located in Minnesota, Iowa, parts of Canada, and until 1959 in Wisconsin. The Minneapolis office has a manager, bookkeeper, stenographer, a part-time clerk, two supervisors and three shoppers.

So far as the issues here are concerned, the work of the shoppers and the supervisors is considered to be substantially identical. They are the investigative employees of Willmark. The usual shopping crew consists of one male supervisor and two female shoppers, who pose as shoppers and service Willmark customers in the assigned area of the Minneapolis branch. They assume to conduct themselves as normal shoppers in the customers’ stores by asking questions about the merchandise for sale in the particular department, and no doubt attempt to simulate the manners and attitude of the usual shopper so as to obtain information as to the courtesy, efficiency, ability and honesty of the clerk who attends them. They may or may not purchase something in the particular department which is being “shopped”. When merchandise is purchased, they determine whether the correct amount is registered on the cash register, whether a receipt is given, depending upon the rule or practice in the establishment in that regard, and make a mental note of any other pertinent factors which may be of concern or interest to the customer. Each member of the shopping crew, as well as the supervisor, prepares a separate report when engaged in shopping. Some of these reports are in considerable detail and are made out on forms sent to the Minneapolis branch from the defendant’s New York office. A copy of the report is generally left with an official or representative of the customer, but where the home or regional office of the customer is located away from the establishment investigated, the copy is mailed to the customer’s home office. Many of the defendant’s customers in the Minneapolis area have their home offices in States other than Minnesota. Under these circumstances, a copy of the report is mailed directly to the out-of-state home office. From 21 to 30 per cent of all written reports prepared by the investigative employees are mailed to points outside the State of Minnesota. The actual mailing, however, is done by the clerical employees of the Minneapolis branch who are not involved here.

If a shopper or supervisor ascertains in the course of making a purchase or otherwise that an irregularity has taken place on the part of the clerk, a violation report is made out. At times such an incident is followed up by a personal interview by [579]*579the supervisor with the clerk. Any verified or confirmed irregularity, with the details thereof, is reported to the store manager and copies are mailed by the Minneapolis branch clerical employees to the home oifice of the customer and to the defendant’s New York City office, where the report is placed in what is termed the “Employees Information File”. This file contains many hundreds of thousands of records listing the names of employees throughout the Nation who have committed irregularities according to the reports of Willmark shoppers and supervisors. These records are made available to defendant’s customers in the event a customer desires to check the record of any of its employees with the information contained in this file.

The investigative employees of the Minneapolis branch prepare various types of reports. One is called the “Selling Quotient Builder”, usually called the S. Q.B. report. Other reports include the “Refund Service Reports”, “Narrative Reports”, “Cashiering Reports”, and “Tax Reports”. These reports are so named by the defendant in order to indicate the type of a report which is rendered. For instance, the “Selling Quotient Builder” purports to grade and rate the various qualifications of the sales person and thus informs the Willmark customer whether the particular sales person is efficient or otherwise in any particular phase of salesmanship. Such reports give a customer information about the various sales persons in his establishment and may enable him to correct the selling deficiencies which may exist as reflected in a particular report. The “Refund Service Report” is used when merchandise purchased is returned by an investigative employee. The “Narrative Report” is used when the investigative employees state in narrative form his or her observations or experience with a certain sales person. The “Tax Report” pertains to the clerk’s handling of the item of taxes either Federal or State on the merchandise sold. The “Cashiering Report” presumably refers to the activities in the cashier’s department.

Not only do many of these records have a predestined journey in interstate commerce as soon as they are prepared, but when they are thus received and considered at the defendant customer’s out-of-state office, they are again sent in commerce to the local managers of the customer with instructions as to suggested remedies for the situation reflected therein. Oftentimes these investigative employees purchase merchandise from a customer’s store and in many instances the goods so purchased are taken by these employees to the defendant’s branch office, where the clerical employees return such merchandise to the home office or central warehouse of the customer located outside the State of Minnesota.

It should be noted that it is admitted by the defendant that supervisors and shoppers are required to perform work without the State of Minnesota and the defendant recognizes that during the time they are so engaged, these employees are in commerce and subject to the Act. In fact, the investigative employees agree to perform out-of-state work when they are hired at the Minneapolis branch. According to the stipulation entered into herein, these investigative employees have been paid overtime for hours recorded by the employees in excess of forty when engaged in work outside of the State of Minnesota. But apparently by reason of inadequate records, there have been occasions when out-of-state work by these employees were not accorded the overtime compensation as required by the Act. In any event, defendant recognizes that it is required to keep accurate records of out-of-state work by these employees and that when so engaged they are under the Act.

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Bluebook (online)
215 F. Supp. 577, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goldberg-v-willmark-service-system-inc-mnd-1961.