Sabatini v. Andrews

243 A.D. 109, 276 N.Y.S. 502, 1934 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5500
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 31, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 243 A.D. 109 (Sabatini v. Andrews) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sabatini v. Andrews, 243 A.D. 109, 276 N.Y.S. 502, 1934 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5500 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

Glennon, J.

The court at Special Term granted a peremptory order of mandamus directing the Industrial Commissioner of Labor of the State of New York to issue industrial home work permits to the petitioners pursuant to article XIII of the Labor Law (Laws of 1934, chap. 825). The Commissioner had refused to issue the permits apparently on the ground that the petitioners are engaged in an industry in which the National Industrial Recovery Act Code of Fair Competition prohibits home work.

The petition of Nettie Sabatini, in substance, alleges that she is the mother of a child four months of age. She has been working at home doing crochet beading for the past six years, and has earned about fifteen dollars per week. She works only about four months during the year. Her husband as a C. W. A. worker presently earns about twelve dollars a week.

The petition of Rose Perricone is to the effect that she is the mother of two children, a boy of eleven, and a girl of ten years of age. Her husband receives compensation at the rate of sixty dollars per month from the United States government as the result of a disability sustained during the World war. He is now unable to work, and has been without employment for three years. This petitioner also does crochet beading.

It is the contention of petitioners that their applications were governed solely by the provisions of article XIII of the Labor Law. On the other hand, the Commissioner contends that the State Recovery Act, the Code of Fair Competition for the Schiffli, the Hand Embroidery and the Embroidery Thread and Scallop Cutting Industry, together with the order of the President dated May 15, 1934, must be read in conjunction with article XIII.

The Legislature of the State of New York, by chapter 781 of the Laws of 1933, enacted what is commonly known as the State [111]*111Recovery Act. In effect, this act provides for the enforcement intrastate of codes of fair competition, adopted and approved by the President under the National Industrial Recovery Act. The legislative policy is best expressed in the following extract from the act:

Section 1. Legislative finding; statement of policy. A national emergency productive of widespread unemployment and disorganization of industry which likewise prevails in the state of New York, which burdens intrastate, interstate, and foreign commerce, affects the public welfare, and undermines the standards of living of the American people and of the people of the state of New York, is hereby declared to exist. The existence in this state of such present acute economic emergency, and the effects and certain causes thereof as declared in section, one of title one of the national industrial recovery act, enacted by the congress of the United States, effective June sixteenth, nineteen hundred thirty-three, are hereby recognized; and it is hereby declared that said emergency, the causes and effects thereof, as so declared, relate as well to commerce in this state wholly intrastate in character as to interstate and foreign commerce and transactions affecting interstate and foreign commerce carried on in this state. It is hereby declared to be the policy of this state to cooperate in the furtherance of the objects and purposes declared in said act of the congress, and each and every provision of this act shall be construed in accordance with the policy so declared, and to make uniform the standards of fair competition prevailing in intrastate commerce and industry with those of interstate commerce required by the provisions of the said national industrial recovery act which are applicable in interstate commerce in the state of New York.”

The State Recovery Act became effective August 26, 1933. Article XIII of the Labor Law was enacted in 1934. This article amends the law in relation to industrial home work. It provides, in part, that under certain circumstances and conditions the Industrial Commissioner shall issue a certificate to an individual applicant permitting industrial home work. Petitioners claim that they have fully complied with the provisions of this article, and the Industrial Commissioner does not in his answer dispute their assertion.

The industry in which the petitioners have been engaged is now governed by the code of fair competition of the Schiffli, the IJand Embroidery and the Embroidery Thread and Scallop Cutting Industry. This code was filed with the Secretary of State, and, under the provisions of the State Recovery Act, becomes enforcible [112]*112as to all intrastate business in the industry. It contains a provision barring home work after August 1, 1934. The pertinent article of the code reads as follows: “ 2. HomeWork. After six (6) months from the effective date of this Code no member of the industry shall give out work to be done in homes. Prior to that date, the Code Authority shall gather facts regarding the operation of home work in the industries under this Code and shall make recommendations to the Administrator, who, after due hearing, shall determine whether the above prohibition shall be modified, cancelled or continued.”

By the order of the President dated May 15, 1934, the above provision was modified. To fully present the extent of the modification we quote the order as signed:

“ In Codes of Fair Competition heretofore or hereafter approved, which provide for the abolition of homework, the question has arisen or may arise as to whether the abolition of homework has precluded certain persons who are incapacitated for factory work from their former opportunities for obtaining employment.

Pursuant to the authority vested in me by Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act and in order to carry out the purposes and policy of said Title of said Act, and upon due consideration of the facts , and upon the report and recommendation of the Administrator,

I, Franklin D. Roosevelt,' President of the United States, do hereby order that no provision of any Code of Fair Competition heretofore or hereafter approved pursuant to said Title of said Act, shall be so construed or applied as to violate the following rules and regulations which are hereby promulgated and prescribed, to wit: .

“I.A person may be permitted to engage in homework at the same rate of wages as is paid for the same type of work performed in the factory or other regular place of business if a certificate is obtained from the State authority or other officer designated by the United States Department of Labor, such certificate to be granted in accordance with instructions issued by the United States Department of Labor, provided

“ (a) Such person is physically incapacitated for work in a factory or other regular place of business and is free from any contagious disease; or

“ (b) Such person is unable to leave home because his or her services are absolutely essential for attendance on a person who is bedridden or an invalid and both such persons are free from any contagious disease.

[113]*113“ 2. Any employer engaging such a person shall keep such certificate on file and shall file with the Code Authority for the trade or industry or subdivision thereof concerned the name and address of each worker so certificated.

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Bluebook (online)
243 A.D. 109, 276 N.Y.S. 502, 1934 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sabatini-v-andrews-nyappdiv-1934.