United States v. Moses

126 F. 58, 70 L.R.A. 281, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4282
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 2, 1903
DocketNo. 927
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 126 F. 58 (United States v. Moses) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Moses, 126 F. 58, 70 L.R.A. 281, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4282 (9th Cir. 1903).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). Act Cong. Aug. 1, 1892, c. 352, § 1, 27 Stat. 340, 2 Supp. Rev. St. p. 62 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 2521], relating to the limitation of the hours of daily service of laborers and mechanics employed upon the public works of the United States, provides:

“That the service and employment of all laborers and mechanics who are now or may hereafter be employed by the government of the United States, by the District of Columbia, or by any contractor or subcontractor upon any of the public works of the United States or of the said District of Columbia, is hereby limited and restricted to eight hours in any one calendar day, and it shall be unlawful for any officer of the United States government or of the District of Columbia or any such contractor or subcontractor whose duty it shall be to employ, direct, or control the services of such laborers or mechanics, to require or permit any such laborer or mechanic to work more than eight hours in any calendar day, except in case of extraordinary emergency.”

By section 161 of the Revised Statutes [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 80] the head of each department is authorized “to prescribe regulations not inconsistent with law for the government of his department, the conduct of its officers and clerks, the distribution and performance of its business, and the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property appertaining to it.”

The contract under consideration was for work performed under the control and direction of the War Department, and was therefore subject to the regulations of that department. The United States Army Regulations, Series 1901, art. 62, par. 812, provides as follows:

“Eight hours constitute a day’s work for all mechanics, and laborers employed by or on behalf of the United States, except in cases of emergency. This rule does not extend to engineers, firemen, seamen, watchmen, team[62]*62sters, and others, the nature of whose employment is peculiar and whose service may be necessary at any time or occasionally at all hours of the day.”

Whether the statute is limited in its operation to the United States and the District of Columbia, or whether it extends to the territories, need not be determined in this case. It may be assumed that it extends to the territories, and the right of the appellee to maintain his claim may be considered under either the statute or the regulations, and the result will be the same upon the question presented on this appeal. There can be no doubt that it is the duty of the officers of the government in control of the construction of buildings for the use of the War Department to observe the requirements of the statute and the regulations of that department relating to such work; but it does not follow that a laborer or a mechanic employed by the government on any of the public works of the United States, performing more than eight hours of service in a calendar day, is entitled to be paid for such extra service in the absence of an agreement to that effect. Prior to the passage of the act of August I, 1892, Congress had provided an eight-hour law by the act of June 25, 1868 (chapter 72, 15 Stat. 77, Rev. St. 3738 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 2507]). That statute provides that “eight hours shall constitute a day’s work for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics who may be employed by or on behalf of the government of the United States.”

In United States v. Martin, 94 U. S. 400, 404,, 24 L. Ed. 128, the Supreme Court had this statute before it upon a claim made by an employé at the steam heating and gas works of the naval academy at Annapolis for services rendered by him on calendar days in excess of eight hours each day. The court, referring to the statute, said:

"This was a direction by Congress to the officers and agents of the United States, establishing the principle to be observed in the labor of those engaged in its service. It prescribed the length of time which should amount to a day’s work, when no special agreement was made upon the subject. * * * The statute does not provide that the employer and the laborer may not agree with each other as to what time shall constitute a day’s work. * * * The government officer is not prohibited from knowing these facts, nor from agreeing, when it is proper, that a less number of hours than eight shall be accepted as a day’s work. Nor does the statute intend that, where out of door labor in the long days of summer may be offered for twelve hours at a uniform price, the officer may not so contract with a consenting laborer. We regard the statute chiefly as in the nature of a direction from a principal to his agent that eight hours is deemed to be a proper length of time for a day’s labor, and that his contracts shall be based upon that theory. It is a matter between the principal and his agent, in which a third party has no interest. The proclamation of the President and the act of May 18, 1872 [chapter 172, § 2, 17 Stat. 134], are in harmony with this view of the statute. * * * In the case before us the claimant continued his work after understanding that eight hours would not be accepted as a day’s labor, • but that he must work twelve hours, as he had done before. He received his pay of $2.50 a day for the work of twelve hours a day, as á calendar day’s work during the period in question, without protest or objection. * * * The claimant’s contract was a -voluntary and a reasonable one, by which he must now be bound.”

The case of Timmonds v. United States, 84 Fed. 933, 28 C. C. A. 570, involved the claim of an employé of the quartermaster’s department for compensation for labor performed in excess of eight hours [63]*63per day. The employment was at a specified salary per month, and the claim was made under the provisions of section 3738 of the Revised Statutes [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 2507]. In all other respects the case was similar to the case at bar. The Circuit Court of Appeals said in that case:

“It is urged that under this provision any. laborer, workman, or mechanic who labors in the service of the United States more than eight hours a day may recover as upon a quantum meruit for the value of the extra time so given to the service, irrespective of the contract of employment. This statutory provision has passed under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court in U. S. v. Martin, 94 U. S. 400 [24 L. Ed. 128], It was there ruled that the provision in question is in the nature of a direction by the government to its agents, and is not a contract between the government and its servants; that it does not specify what sum shall be paid for the labor of eight hours, nor that the price shall be larger when the hours are more, or smaller when the hours are less; and that, being in the nature of a direction from the government to its agents, it does not constitute a contract to pay its servants for the excess of time employed. In the case before us we take it the allegation that the petitioner was compelled to work for twelve hours a day was not intended to mean involuntary or compulsory service beyond the eight hours a day, but that the work he undertook required that period of service at a stipulated monthly compensation. He was under no compulsion. He could have abandoned his service if it proved distasteful or onerous.

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Bluebook (online)
126 F. 58, 70 L.R.A. 281, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-moses-ca9-1903.