Evening star., 1938-12-07
|Wage-HourRu|e
Lists Service
Institutions
Exemption Claims Of
Varied Concerns
Are Denied

In ruling having the effect OF
defining service establishments,
the Wage and Hour Division to-
day denied claims of exemption
under this category by banks, in
surance companies, newspapers,
telephone companies, radio stations,
utilities, stock brokers and security
dealers.
The ruling was prepared BY the
general counsels Office of the diyi-
sion as guide for the adninistra-
ton and was made public by Paul
Sifton, deputy administrator.
The act provide. exemption from
the wage and hour provisions for
retail and service establishments.
the greater 1art of whose selling
or servicing is in intrastate COM
merce." In its Interpretation to-
day, the division said:
Service establishments are usually
local in character and render a
service to the ultimate consumer
for direct consumpDn The service
is usually purchaseu in small guam
titles for private use rather than for
industrial or business purposes"
Cited ~Ente1visso Included.
Remarking III the exemption
claims placed by the broad industry
catcgories n0hed sbove, the ruling
acknowledge, that these enterprises
perform service but contends it
is not the type ~ service" that
Congress intended to exempt from
| the act.
The ruling was issued at the same
time as was warniAe to employers
against "winkhlg" at unrecorded
overtime work ~ thew employees.
Typical exOnplss of service estab-
lishmen0 which are exempt from
the law, the exemption ruling said,
include, restaurants, hotels, laun-
dries. :0esges, barber shops, beauty
parloss and funeral homes.
The list Of business types the gen.
e1al counsel held were not excluded
from the act, despite their claims to
be service establishments, also in,
cluded building and loan a5socia-
tions, personal loan companies, toll
bridge companies. water supply COM
panies, printing and Binding con-
Germs, advertising agencies, com.
mercial art firms, investment coun-
sells, compilers of mailing lists, credit
rating agencies, legal firms account
in firms, engineering firms, COM
panies engaged in making geological
surveys, concerns compiling and dis
tributing information to lawyers.
construction equipment and rental
companies, concerns supplying
watchmen, guards and detectives for
industry. building contractors, ware
house companies. machine shops and
foundries. drydock companies and
concerns engaged IN contract oil
we'll drilling, dental laboratories and
| supply houses.
L0opholes Left Yet.
The general counsel said his opin-
/ ion with respect to the non-eXemp-
ton of these companies lis not free
from doubt in respect of some of
such classes of businesses and does
not purport to embrace all possible
ubclassiflcations."
I'm broad sense" the ruling said,
every business performs service
yet no one would seriously urge that
all types of businesses were eligible
for exemption under section 13 lex
emption section of the act. 1t would
be surprising, indeed, if Congress
had intended by the one word 'serv-
ice. as used in the phrase retail or
service establishment to grant an
exemption broad enough to include
all of the aforementioned classes
of businesses, and there is nothing
in the legislative history of section
13 to support such a conclusion"
In his warning on overtime Dep
uty Administrator Sifton said:
IF an employe is in fact allowed
to work overtime, even though with
out express official authority. the
hours so spent -" must be taken
| into account"
If no record of such hours is kept
on the pretext that no express off,
cial authority to work overtime has
been given, he added the employer
will be violating the law.
1T is not allowable" Mr.. Sifton
said, "for an employer or his su-
pervisory representative to forbid
overtime work without express off,
cial authority on the one hand and
wink at actual overtime work on
the other"
Discussing the keeping. of wage
hour records by employers, he said a
record is required for each employe
of "hours worked each work day
| and each work week."