Hodgson v. Penn Packing Co., Inc.

335 F. Supp. 1015, 20 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 384, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10708
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 19, 1971
DocketCiv. A. 43458
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 335 F. Supp. 1015 (Hodgson v. Penn Packing Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hodgson v. Penn Packing Co., Inc., 335 F. Supp. 1015, 20 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 384, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10708 (E.D. Pa. 1971).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER

HAROLD K. WOOD, District Judge.

This is an action instituted by the Secretary of Labor charging defendant Penn Packing Company, Inc. (Penn Packing) with violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. The Secretary seeks to restrain defendant from withholding payment of overtime compensation allegedly due to certain Penn Packing employees and to enjoin further violations of the Act.

The Secretary charges that defendant committed two separate violations of the Act. The first alleged violation was the employment of two employees for a workweek in excess of the statutory maximum without payment of overtime compensation. The second violation was the employment of eight employees, including the two previously mentioned, for weekend work without paying the amount of overtime compensation required by the Act. The parties have stipulated that defendant and its employees were engaged in interstate commerce and/or the production of goods for interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act. They have further stipulated as to the amount of back wages for which defendant company is liable in the event that we find that it violated the provisions of the Act. We make the following

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Allan Brown is an employee of defendant Penn Packing.

2. Brown’s activities include some inside sales work, production work, the pricing of bills and the correlating of orders. (N.T. 14)

3. Brown spends approximately fifteen to twenty hours per week compiling and correlating orders. (N.T. 19) He spends four to five hours per day pricing bills, this work being done not continuously, but in conjunction with other activities. (N.T. 15)

4. Brown is employed for a workweek in excess of forty hours. (N.T. 17)

5. Brown receives a flat salary of $150.00 per week. (N.T. 22)

6. Howard L. Kessler is employed by Penn Packing as an inside salesman. (N.T. 31)

7. Kessler spends approximately 90% of his time taking orders over the telephone. (N.T. 31)

8. In setting prices for orders received over the telephone, Kessler generally consults and is guided by a standard pricing sheet used by meat companies. He may, on occasion, use his discretion in setting a price, but such instances are unusual. (N.T. 39-40)

9. Kessler is employed for a workweek in excess of forty hours. (N.T. 32)

10. Kessler receives a flat salary of $155.00 per week. (N.T. 35)

11. Anthony J. Roccia and Lawrence Rose are employed by Penn Packing as maintenance men. (N.T. 51, 55) Anthony Foglia, Gerald Friedman, Ryszard Wojiechowski and Bolee Staniec are employed by Penn Packing as butchers. (N. T. 44, 59, 65, 68)

12. At one time Penn Packing employed part-time employees on weekends to perform miscellaneous duties such as painting, repairing pallets, cutting grass and cleaning up. They were paid approximately $3.00 per hour. (N.T. 22, 45, 69, 91)

13. Each of the above-mentioned employees consulted Mr. Martin Lipoff, President of Penn Packing and requested that they be allowed to perform these extra weekend duties in addition to their regular employment.

14. The employees and Lipoff entered into oral agreements whereby the em *1019 ployees would perform the weekend work previously done by outside employees.

15. Howard Kessler was employed by Penn Packing on Friday evenings checking in truckdrivers. (N.T. 36) He was paid a flat rate of $2.50 per hour which made no provision for overtime compensation. (N.T. 36)

16. The remaining seven employees performed the duties described in Finding No. 12. This work was generally performed on Saturdays. Most of the employees were paid a base rate of $1.-8325 per hour and, with overtime compensation, a total of $2.75 per hóur. The others were paid a base rate of $2.00 per hour and, with overtime compensation, a total of $3.00 per hour.

17. Penn Packing has kept payroll journals indicating the number of hours worked by its employees and the amount of compensation received. The journals show the number of overtime and non-overtime hours worked and the compensation for each. The records are sufficient to indicate the number of hours which the employees spent doing cleanup work.

DISCUSSION

At trial, defendant raised the issue of the Court’s jurisdiction. It alleged that in an action instituted by the. Secretary under Section 17 of the Act, the novel question proviso of Section 16(c) is applicable. Section 16(e) provides that the Secretary may sue on behalf of any employee filing a request claiming unpaid minimum wages or overtime compensation. However, “(This) authority to sue shall not be used by the Secretary of Labor in any case involving an issue of law which has not been settled finally by the courts, and in any such case no court shall have jurisdiction over such action or proceeding initiated or brought by the Secretary of Labor if it does involve any issue of law not so finally settled.” Under Section 17, the Secretary does not sue upon written request of an employee, but on his own initiative. It was defendant’s position at trial that Section 17 must be read in pari materia with the novel question provision of Section 16(c).

Subsequent to trial, the Third Circuit answered this question in Hodgson v. Wheaton Glass Company, 446 F.2d 527 (3rd Cir. 1971). There the Court held that the novel question proviso is not applicable to a proceeding instituted by the Secretary under Section 17. Accordingly the proviso is not an impediment to the present action, and we have jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of the case.

Section 7(a) (1) of the Act as amended 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1) provides that:

“Except as otherwise provided in this section, no employer shall employ any of his employees who in any workweek is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or is employed in an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.”

It is clear, with respect to each violation charged, that Penn Packing did not pay its employees one and one-half their regular hourly rates for hours worked in excess of the statutory maximum. However, it alleges that in each case it was relieved from the obligation of, doing so by applicable exemptions provided by the Act.

The Government’s initial contention is that Penn Packing violated the Act by employing Allan Brown and Howard L. Kessler for a workweek in excess of forty hours without payment of overtime compensation.

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Bluebook (online)
335 F. Supp. 1015, 20 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 384, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hodgson-v-penn-packing-co-inc-paed-1971.