Evening star., 1934-04-14
S14.5O MINIMUM
WAGE IS IN FORCE
WITH 40-HR. WEEK
New Regulation Will Be Far
Reaching in Washington
Offices.
EXCEPTIONS MADE
IN WORKING TIME
Illegal to Reclassify Employees or
Resort to Means to Defeat
Purposes.
BY VINCENT TUTCHING.

BY VINCENT TUTCHING.
The code of fair competition for the
real estate brokerage industry, setting
maximum 40-hour week for en-
ployes, and minimum weekly wage
of Sl4.50 in the Capital, will become
operative next Thursday, April 10.
OF sweeping significance, this code
affects every person or establishment
handling as little as a single real es-
tate transaction for compensation.
From the wording of the instrument,
it would appear to include all land
lords, appraisers, rent collectors, at
torneys, banks or any establishment
having real estate department or
handling realty transactions for any
consideration whatsoever.
Text Of Code.
The code says:
The term real estate brokerage in
dustry' means the representa-
tion Of others, for compensation, fee
or valuable consideration, in one or
more transactions, as whole or par
tial vocation, in any of the following
activities: Selling or offering for sale,
buying or offering to buy, exchanging
or offering to exchange, or negotiat-
ing for the sale, purchase or exchange
Of real property; or leasing or offering
to lease, renting or Offering to rent,
or negotiating for the lease or rental
of real property; and the collection
OF rent, appraising or offering to ap-
praise the value of real property, the
brokerage or writing of insurance, or
the negotiating and procuring of
loans on real property. as an adjunct
TO the industry"
AS members Of the industry, the
real estate agents thus defined are
required to register with the real
estate code authority to be estab-
lished here and pay the assessment
levied by the authority to defray the
expenses Of its operation.
Exception in Hours.
The maximum hours provision of
the code provides that no employe
shall be permitted to work more than
40 hours in any one week, or more
than eight hours in any 24-hour
period. An exception is made to this
regulation, however, where peak or
seasonal requirements demand" al
lowing employers to work their help
for 48 hours per week for a period
not to exceed six weeks in any one
six months period, providing that
wages at the rate of time and one
third are paid for the overtime.
"The limitation of hours of labor
shall not apply to outside statesmen,
solicitors collectors or rental men,
whose Office duties require substan-
TALLY half time or less," the code
says.
Exemptions under the wage pro-
visions of the code include statesmen,
solicitors, collectors and rental men
compensated on commission basis.
ONCE girls, Office boys and messengers
are permitted to be paid not less than
30 per cent of the minimum wage
specified, but the number of employees
in this category cannot exceed the
ratio of one out of every 10.
Adjustment to Be Made.
within 80 days from the effective
date of this CODE" the document
reads. the code authority shall submit
to the administrator a plan for ad-
justment of wages above the mini
mum. which plan shall become effec-
tive upon approval of the admins
traitor"
Under the code, it is illegal to re-
classify employees or resort to other
subterfuge to defeat the purposes OF
its labor provisions.
1t establishes code authority of
ii members, 8 of whom are elected
by the National Association of Real
Estate Boards. and three other men,
bers of the industry not affiliated
with the association. The authority is
to make investigations as to the
functioning and observance of the
provisions Of the code at its own in
stance. or upon complaint, and re-
port them to the Administrator.
The instrument prohibits the i'm
position Of 'inequitable restrictions"
on membership in the trade associa-
tions participating in the selection or
activities of the code authority.
Unfair Practices.
Unfair practices listed under the
code include:
mo member of the industry shall
pay commission or fees to, or divide
commissions or fees with any one ex-
cept members of the industry. All
members of the industry to whom
commissions or fees are paid or with
whom commissions or fees are divided
must be registered with the code au-
thority, and in States having real
estate license laws, such members
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