Wirtz v. Durham Sandwich Co.

259 F. Supp. 710, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6669
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedDecember 7, 1965
DocketNo. C-58-D-65
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 259 F. Supp. 710 (Wirtz v. Durham Sandwich Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wirtz v. Durham Sandwich Co., 259 F. Supp. 710, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6669 (M.D.N.C. 1965).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND MEMORANDUM OPINION

GORDON, District Judge.

This action was brought by the plaintiff, W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Labor, to enjoin the defendants, Durham Sandwich Company, Inc., and Austin R. Pendergraft, from future violations of the overtime compensation, minimum wage and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., hereinafter referred to as the Act, and to restrain the withholding of overtime compensation and minimum wages alleged to be withheld from employees of the defendants.

The defendants requested a jury trial; however, on May 26, 1965, the Court granted the plaintiff’s motion to strike the defendants’ demand for a jury trial. Thereafter, the case was heard by the Court without a jury.

The plaintiff and defendants have stipulated that during the period from September 20, 1963, through December 11, 1964, Nancy Lipscomb, who is an employee of the corporate defendant, was not paid the applicable minimum wage as required by the Act. The parties have stipulated and agreed that Nancy Lipscomb is entitled to recover of the defendants the amount of $417.95 as all unpaid minimum wages; therefore, in-junctive relief restraining the defendants from withholding unpaid minimum wages due Nancy Lipscomb was not considered in the trial of the case.

Having now carefully considered all of counsels’ proposals, arguments and contentions, as well as the testimony, pleadings, stipulations, briefs and exhibits submitted, and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, the Court, pursuant to Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S. C.A., makes its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as follows:

Findings of Fact

1. The plaintiff, the Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, brings this action pursuant to the authority conferred upon him by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq. The corporate defendant, Durham Sandwich Company, Inc., is a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of North Carolina, having its principal place of business in Durham, North Carolina, where it is engaged in the manufacture and sale of sandwiches and in the wholesale dis[712]*712tribution of cakes, pies, pastries, and similar items to lunch counters and drug stores. The individual defendant, Austin R. Pendergraft, is a citizen and resident of the State of North Carolina, and as President of the corporate defendant actively manages, supervises and directs the business of Durham Sandwich Company, Inc.

2. Between April 5, 1963, and December 11,1964, the defendants regularly and recurrently received shipments of goods from places outside the State of North Carolina. The defendants received these shipments of goods eleven to twenty-three times per month and on an average of three to six times per week. When the defendants received and stored out-of-state shipments, they were engaged in interstate commerce.

3. Between April 5, 1963, and December 11, 1964, Carl Davis was an employee of the defendants and also plant manager of the defendants’ plant in Durham, North Carolina. During this period, Carl Davis received and stored fifty per cent of the shipments of goods which were sent to the defendants from outside of North Carolina, and he spent approximately thirty minutes a week engaged in this work. On occasions, Carl Davis unloaded the shipments from the trucks, and on other occasions, after the shipments had been placed inside the defendants’ plant by persons other than defendants’ employees, he would carry them approximately six feet to the cake room in defendants’ plant and store them. Between April 5, 1963, and December 11, 1964, Carl Davis was regularly and recurrently engaged in interstate commerce, and whenever he was engaged in the work described above, the shipments of goods remained in the flow of interstate commerce until stored.

4. Between April 5, 1963, and December 11, 1964, Carl Davis was compensated by the defendants at a rate of $77.50 per week plus commissions for goods which he sold. He worked approximately 59% hours per week, and he received no compensation for hours worked in excess of forty.

5. The defendants failed to keep and maintain adequate records of the hours worked by Carl Davis as required by the Act.

6. During the period from April 5, 1963, through December 11, 1964, Carl Davis was paid in salary and commissions a total of $7,377.46.

7. The defendants have unlawfully withheld from Carl Davis as overtime compensation the amount of $1,209.90.

Discussion

In the determination of the issues presented herein, the Court makes reference to the provisions of Section 7(a) (1) of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 207(a) (1), which provides that no employer shall employ any of his employees who in any workweek is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce for any workweek longer than forty hours, unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of forty hours at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.

In a case of this nature, the burden is on the plaintiff to show by the preponderance of the evidence that the employee performed work for which he was improperly compensated. Thus the burden is on the plaintiff to show that defendants were engaged in interstate commerce. Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680, 66 S.Ct. 1187, 90 L.Ed. 1515, reh. den. 329 U.S. 822, 67 S.Ct. 25, 91 L.Ed. 699 (1946). The plaintiff has established that Carl Davis received and stored shipments of goods which were sent to the defendants from outside of the State of North Carolina. In McComb v. Herlihy, 4 Cir., 161 F.2d 568 (1947), the court held that even though out-of-state shipments were no longer in the flow of interstate commerce after they were stored in the warehouse of the defendant partnership, nevertheless, the employees who received and stored the goods were engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act. A similar result was reached in Mitchell v. Royal Baking Company, 5 [713]*713Cir., 219 F.2d 532 (1955). As to when such interstate shipments are considered to be no longer in the flow of interstate commerce, the court in Sucrs. De A. Mayol & Co. v. Mitchell, 1 Cir., 280 F.2d 477, 480, 481 (1960), cert. den. 364 U.S. 902, 81 S.Ct. 235, 5 L.Ed.2d 195 (1960), stated:

“In Domenech v. Pan American Standard Brands, Inc., 1 Cir., 1945, 147 F.2d 994, 995, we observed that ‘the “state of rest” doctrine * * * holds that the interstate journey ends when the goods come to rest in the wholesaler’s warehouse and are intermingled with the mass of property there.’ Cf.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
259 F. Supp. 710, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wirtz-v-durham-sandwich-co-ncmd-1965.