Citations
- 183 F.2d 515
Full opinion text
ORR, Circuit Judge.
Appellants brought this action under § 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C.A. § 216(b), hereinafter referred to as the Act, to recover overtime compensation allegedly due from appellee under § 7(a) of the Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 207(a) Appellants were employed by appellee pursuant to the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, the pertinent provisions of which appear in the footnote. The trial court found that during the period here involved appellants, in addition to working the hours specified by the contract, were required by appellee to work through their lunch periods of one-half hour each day. The parties stipulated, and the trial Court found, that appellee did not compensate appellants for lunch periods. Appellant Hector and other plaintiffs below, not parties to this appeal, were awarded overtime wages for each lunch period worked on the day shift. Appellants were denied recovery, however, for the lunch periods worked on the second, or swing, and third, or graveyard, shifts. The Court gave as its reason for denying recovery, the payment to appellants of a half-hour premium per day on the swing shift and a one-hour premium per day on the graveyard shift, pursuant to paragraph 5(c) of the contract existing between the Union, of which appellants were members, and Joshua Hendy Corporation. This approach failed to give a proper construction to 29 U.S.C.A. § 207(a), which required payment for employment in excess of 40 hours per week to be at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which appellants were employed. The Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Bay Ridge Operating Co. v. Aaron, 1948, 334 U.S. 446, 68 S.Ct. 1186, 92 L.Ed. 1502, defined the “regular rate” under this section as the total compensation received for any week, minus overtime premiums, divided by the total number of hours worked during the week. This definition assumes, however, that the total compensation received was in return for all hours worked as regular shifts. The regular hours of work in the plant at which appellants were employed was 7% hours on the swing and seven on the graveyard, exclusive of the half hour worked and to which appellants were entitled as lunch periods. On the swing shift appellants worked and were compensated for a scheduled 45 hours per week and, in addition, worked three hours during lunch periods for which no compensation was received, or a total of 48 hours. On the graveyard shift a scheduled 42 hours was worked and compensation paid therefor. They also worked three extra hours during lunch periods for which no compensation was received. Hence, on the swing and graveyard shifts the three uncompensated hours must be added to a workweek which, before such addition, totaled more than forty hours. Appellants are therefore entitled to overtime compensation for three extra hours worked each week, except to the extent that such overtime compensation is offset by overtime premium paid by appellee in excess of that required by the Act. In cornputing such overtime compensation, consideration must be given to §§ 7(d) (6) and 7(g), 29 U.S.C.A. § 207(d) (6),